A God In The Making
by FenrisRoots
Summary: Discontinued: Naruto finds the Hogyoku
1. Chapter 1

Okay, just to make everything clear, this story was written awhile ago and I ended up taking off this site however I've decided to repost it and many others that I've discontinued or are awaiting a rewrite.

ALL of my active stories are posted on the profile for Fenris187 and none of the fics here will be updated.

Also, I own no IP at all right now and make no money off this free access fanfiction.

* * *

Sitting alone in a small clearing around a small shack in the forest surrounding Konoha, a young boy with spiky blond hair and a set of whisker marks adorning his cheeks. He was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit and had a set of green goggles wrapped around his forehead. His name was Uzumaki Naruto, the only student of the ninja academy to fail the graduation exam. Fortunately one of his instructors had told him about a secret way of graduating… by stealing the scroll labelled 'forbidden' in the Hokages office and learning one jutsu from the scroll, which was apparently created solely for the purpose of the exam and every jutsu contained in it was considered difficult enough to ensure the ninja that learned it was at least genin level… at least that's what Mizuki told him.

Naruto had to admit… stealing the forbidden scroll was a lot easier than he thought it would be. Then again he didn't expect his Oiroke no jutsu to take out the Hokage in a single shot.

So here he was, looking through the scroll, when he found something that seemed a little off.

"Huh? This looks familiar…" he muttered to himself when he saw a strange array of symbols on the paper, with a couple of words written under it, 'bloodline orb', "oh that's it! A storage seal!" he shouted out loud when he finally remembered where he had seen the array before.

Quickly deciding that it must contain a special extra credit material, he quickly channelled a small amount of chakra into it. There was a large puff of smoke which slowly cleared to reveal a small black orb.

"What? That's it? I was expecting something a little… cooler," the blond muttered in disappointment before picking up the small ball.

He immediately began to feel strange. Realising that it was the strange orb that was giving him the feeling, he quickly attempted to drop it… only to realise that it was blending with one of his fingers.

Attempting to pry the black object off him, he found it simply continued to merge with him. Panicking, the blond proceeded to pull out a kunai in an attempt to remove the orb, finding it too attached to remove even with the help of the sharp blade.

Noticing the strange feeling spreading through his body, Naruto desperately attempted to remove his finger before it fully merged with him, failing miserably as the orb vanished completely leaving him with no indication of its whereabouts… before he began to feel light headed and promptly passed out.

XXX

"So he wishes for the strength to protect everyone he cares about… and the power to crush anyone that stands in his way… even if he faces a god… and his potential is nearly limitless... it is time to begin the chrysalis stage… so that this worthless caterpillar can become a beautiful butterfly."

XXX

The strange feeling was still there, but it was no longer uncomfortable, Naruto realised as consciousness returned to him.

Opening his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of a dark ceiling… one he was certain he had never seen before.

Looking around, he noticed he was currently in a some kind of boiler room with large pipes running along the walls. Examining the pipes he noticed that they were cracking and falling to pieces right before his eyes, however nothing came from them as they fell into disrepair.

Feeling a small chill course through his body at the strange sight he was witnessing, the blond proceeded to try and find an exit before the rest of the structure collapsed.

"It is alright child," a feminine voice called out to him, but it wasn't the voice itself that shocked Naruto, but rather the sheer amount of power behind the voice… it was more than he had ever heard before, hell it was at least fifty times greater than the old man when he was commanding the ANBU.

"W-who's there?!" he shouted, hoping that the strange voice would reveal itself.

"This corridor is the representation of your mind, with those pipes representing your chakra coils… I am what your people refer to as the bloodline orb," the voice called out, shocking the youth, "however I prefer the name given to me by my creator… Hōgyoku."

Taking a deep breath Naruto asked the main question going through his head, "if those pipe are my chakra coils then why are they falling apart?"

"That would be my influence, I am currently breaking them down because they are too small for the amount of chakra you possess, once I have finished breaking them down, I will rebuild them approximately five times larger than before," Hōgyoku explained to him.

"So… you're saying that I'll be a lot stronger when you're finished?"

"When I am finished with your chakra coils you will be significantly stronger little caterpillar, however once I have finished reconstructing your chakra coils, I will begin the process of shattering the barriers on your power… how long that will take, I am uncertain of."

"Shatter the barriers on my power?"

"That is what I have done with everyone else that has attempted to use me… however their hearts have always desired something simple that has only required one barrier to be broken, as such I have never been required to merge with a still living human before."

"Huh? Why are you saying a still living human?"

"I have been fully merged with one other being in my existence, however he was a shinigami," the voice explained to the blond shocking him speechless, "I do not mean the shinigami as you know it… long ago there were many shinigami with many different levels of power, however after a certain event involving the one that merged with me, the Kami's decided to block off all beings abilities to use that power and place one of Izanami's children as the full time shinigami… however I can break any barrier on a person's potential including the one the Kami's created."

"W-wow… so how strong will I be when you're finished with me?" Naruto asked after processing what the strange voice had told him.

"Judging by your potential, I would say that you could possibly become stronger than Izanagi himself."

Naruto couldn't help but choke when he heard that, he had the potential to be stronger than one of the two original gods… it was just something that he found almost impossible to process.

Then he thought of something, "hey… Hōgyoku?"

"Yes, little caterpillar?"

"Well two things… one do you have some sort of form I could speak to? It is kinda weird talking to a voice… and why do you keep calling me caterpillar?" he asked the bodiless voice.

"Is this better?" the same voice asked as a form appeared in front of him. It was a woman about six and a half feet tall, with long flowing black hair, a flawless face and eyes that had black sclera and grey iris's. She was wearing a long, dark purple kimono with small specks of white, making it look similar to the night sky, that accentuated her lithe figure.

Naruto could only stare dumbfounded at the woman's unblinking eyes that simply radiated power… it made him feel completely powerless.

"I will take your silence as a yes," Hōgyoku stated calmly, snapping the blond out of his stupor, "and for your second question, I refer to you as caterpillar for two reasons, one, you are currently a caterpillar that I am going to transform into a beautiful butterfly, and two, I don't know your name," the beautiful woman deadpanned the second point.

"Oh… hehehe, sorry, my name's Uzumaki Naruto! Nice ta meet'cha Hōgyoku!" the whiskered blond practically shouted.

Closing her eyes, Hōgyoku let out a small chuckle, at the blonds' declaration.

"Hey! What's so funny?!" he shouted indignantly as the dark haired woman continued to chuckle.

"I'm sorry… I don't mean any offence to you Naruto-san… it is simply that the last being to merge with me treated me like a tool."

"What! Why would someone do that?"

"That man was cruel, he would strike down his own loyal followers simply for being too weak… even if they were strong."

"Damn… that guy sounds like a real bastard," Naruto said as he clenched his fist in anger.

"And yet you have similar potential… though even greater than his… and one of your hearts desires is the same as his," the more powerful being told him calmly.

"W-what! One of my desires is the same as that bastards!"

"Indeed, your heart desires the power to crush all that stand in your way, however unlike that man whose sole desire was that, you also desire the power to protect others."

"…you keep talking about my desires, but you don't know everything about me?"

"The reason for that is simple, I possess the power to read a person's heart, but I cannot read their mind," she informed him.

"That seems a little weird."

"That is simply my nature."

"(sigh)... hey I was just wondering, if you're that dangerous then why didn't the Kami's destroy you?"

"It is simple really… the Kami's power lies in the realm of reason, while I exist outside the realm of reason… basically they have no power when it comes to me."

"…"

"So… do you have anything else to tell me?" the young blond asked the strange woman.

"I do not know if you are aware of this yet or not, however I have found a foreign body within your system."

"Huh?"

"Come… I will show you," the spirit of the orb said, turning around and leading the blond along the corridors of his mind.

After what seemed like hours, they finally arrived in a large room, split in two by a large cage with a small slip of paper with the Kanji for seal written on it.

"**So my jailor has finally decided to pay me a visit**," a booming voice erupted from the cage. It too held a great amount of power behind it, though it was still not as great as that of the woman next to him.

"Huh? What do you mean jailor?" Naruto asked in confusion, before an enormous set of slitted red eyes snapped open in the darkness, quickly followed by a vicious looking set of teeth.

"**So my own prison doesn't even know about me… pathetic ningen,**" the demonic visage said as it looked down on the blond.

"I would appreciate it if you did not insult my host parasite," the sphere stated calmly as it observed the creatures interaction with its host.

"**And who do you think you are entering another's mind?**"

"Hey! Who the hell are you!" Naruto shouted at the set of eyes.

"**Who am I? You don't even recognise the mighty Kyūbi no Kitsune when you see it?!**"

The blond froze. He was currently shouting at the Kyūbi... how the hell is that possible?

"How the hell are you the Kyūbi? The Yondaime was supposed to have killed you!"

"**Do you honestly think a mere ningen could possibly kill me? Your pathetic species can do nothing more than temporarily seal me, understand chimp?**" the caged beast asked angrily as the shadows obscuring the cage lifted, revealing the beasts gargantuan form to the blond.

"That is quite enough… now to answer your question Kyūbi, I am called the Hōgyoku, I possess the ability to break the barriers on a person's potential and allow them to obtain power far greater than they could normally."

"**Let me see if I understand you correctly… you are going to break down EVERY barrier on this child's power.**"

"That is correct."

"**Then that means he won't be human when you're done…** **at the very least he will be a monster… heheh, well then child, it looks like you have a chance after all,**" the fox said with a grin as it looked the blond in the eye.

"Huh? What do you mean 'have a chance'?"

"**It's simple… if you're human, I will hate you by default, however since you won't be remaining human, you have the chance to get me to like you… however you could easily just get put back on my hate list if you prove yourself to be a pain in the ass.**"

Naruto blinked. And blinked again. The Kyūbi had pretty much just told him that it hates humans simply for being human, but was prepared to NOT hate him simply because he wasn't going to stay human.

"Naruto-san, there appears to be someone approaching us… I believe it would be wise to continue this discussion at a later date," the black haired woman told him, before he suddenly found himself ejected from his mindscape, "so what is the real reason you are prepared to give him a chance?"

"**That is the real reason… as I said, I hate humans… I have had far too many bad experiences with them to trust them… now leave so I can catch up on some beauty sleep,**" the great fox said before resting it's head on its paws, before proceeding to fall into a deep sleep.

XXX

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, letting the light filter in… even if it seemed a little off. Looking around, he quickly saw one of his academy sensei's slowly creeping up to him, a cold look adorning his scarred face.

"Um… Iruka sensei, why are you looking at me like that?" Naruto asked from his laying position.

"N-Naruto? Is that you?" the Chūnin, asked all traces of coldness gone from his features.

"Of course it's me! Who else could it be?"

"To be perfectly honest with you… it could've been anyone."

"Huh? How the hell could it have been anyone, who else has this… hair?" the words slowly dried up in his mouth as he suddenly realised that he was covered by a strange white substance that somehow managed to cover him completely without blocking any of his senses.

He was about to start panicking when a soothing voice called out to him from within his head, "calm down Naruto-san… you are currently undergoing what is known as the chrysalis stage, it is simply a protective casing that lasts until I have finished major body alterations… like I am currently doing with your chakra coils."

"Heheh… sorry Iruka-sensei, I kinda didn't realise I was in a cocoon."

"Naruto, that isn't a cocoon."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"(sigh) Naruto… a cocoon indicates that the creature inside it is changing quickly."

"And I am…well at least my chakra coils are."

Just as Iruka was about to say something else, Naruto was suddenly pierced by several sharp implements, knocking him towards the Chūnin instructor, who quickly caught him before looking at the assailant.

"Mizuki! What do you think you're doing?!" Iruka shouted at his white haired assistant that had arrived on the scene.

"Isn't it obvious Iruka? I'm here to kill the demon, kill you and take the scroll like I planned," the armed stranger shouted before throwing an extra large fuma shuriken at the duo, which Iruka was more than capable of dodging, even with the blond in his arms.

"_Mizuki-sensei lied? But I thought he was my friend…" _Naruto thought to himself as his eyes began to water within the mask that covered his face.

"It would appear as though it is people like this that caused Kyūbi to hate humans, he certainly is an immoral creature."

"_Mizuki lied to me, and then he tries to kill me, Hōgyoku, what can I do like this?"_

"During the chrysalis stage your raw strength and durability are greatly enhanced, I would estimate that at the moment you are approximately 10 to 15 times stronger than normal."

"_What about those kunai he threw at me? Why can't a I feel them?"_

"They are currently embedded in your shell, they have not even made it close to your flesh."

Upon hearing this, Naruto proceeded to jump from the scarred Chūnin's grip, before charging at the traitor with speed neither of them had expected.

Successfully landing a right hook to the unprepared Chūnin's face, Naruto easily knocked him back a couple of feet before the white haired Chūnin tossed a kunai at the white spectre's face. With just a slight twist of his head, Naruto simply let the weapon ricochet off his masked face, before kicking the shocked traitor in the side.

"I trusted you Mizuki, I thought you were my friend… was all of it a lie?" the blond asked before sending a vicious left to the white haired teachers face.

Regaining his balance, the traitor decided that it was time to play his trump card, "of course it was, didn't you even realise that EVERYONE hates you? And do you want to know why?"

"No Mizuki! It's forbidden!"

"It's because people like you can't see past the Kyūbi," the cocooned child said coldly, shocking both Chūnin present.

"H-how do you already know?" Mizuki asked, shocked that his trump card was useless.

"Because just before Iruka-sensei arrived, I met it," Naruto informed them as he sent a powerful right to the speechless Chūnin's stomach.

Snapping out of his shock at his students strength, Iruka proceeded to take advantage of his former colleagues state and using a basic kunai, proceeded to slice the traitors tendons, immobilizing him completely… before Naruto kicked the man in stomach one more time.

"Naruto, we need to take Mizuki in for questioning, then we really should go and see Hokage-sama about what's happening to you, alright?" the scarred Chūnin said as he looked at the chrysalis state of his student, the white spectre with no features except for one small black orb located in the centre of his chest with a single vertical and a single horizontal line that travelled around his entire body, before ending where it began.

"Hai Iruka sensei."


	2. Chapter 2

Sarutobi Hiruzen was waiting patiently for Iruka to arrive with Naruto. He was fully aware of the events that transpired after Iruka had found the blond, but up until then it was a complete mystery, especially the fact that Naruto appeared to have the bloodline orb embedded in his chest.

He was aware of the object for one simple fact, his sensei had let him use it and for some reason it had failed to react to him.

However, the simple fact that Naruto had called that strange attire a cocoon was disturbing, from his knowledge of what the orb did, it had never once created a cocoon for a person, it had simply granted them a bloodline of some sort. He might have been known as the professor but whatever had happened to Naruto was outside of his knowledge base and quite possibly a complete mystery to everyone.

There was a knock on the door to his office, just as he had expected from Iruka.

"Come in," he called out, with the door quickly opening to reveal Iruka with the forbidden scroll strapped to his back, standing next to the smothered form of Naruto.

"Hokage-sama," Iruka said respectfully as he gave a curt bow to the village leader.

"Heheh… Hiya ero-ojisan," Naruto called out, earning a bop on the head by the Chūnin and cementing the fact that it was Naruto to the old man.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but please let me explain why Naruto stole the scroll," the Chūnin requested from the aged leader.

"That is quite alright Iruka, I am fully aware that Naruto was tricked into it by Mizuki."

"What? Really?" Iruka asked dumbfounded at the Hokages ability to know things like that.

"You were watching through your peeking orb weren't you," Naruto asked blankly, earning a confused look off the Chūnin instructor.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the Sandaime stated as a small blush began to enflame his wrinkled cheeks.

"I mean that orb you use to spy on the women's hot springs," the young blond stated, his expression unreadable through the cocoon.

"Wait! What?" Iruka practically shouted at what the blond had just accused the Hokage of doing.

"Iruka, this is an order from your superior, forget you ever heard that, or else you will be performing D-ranks everyday for the rest of your life," Sarutobi said with nothing but seriousness filling his voice.

Suddenly there was a cracking sound that attracted everyone's attention, before they realised it was Naruto's casing. Just seconds after the cracking sound had started, the head of the cocoon fell to pieces, revealing Naruto's face to the world. But other than that the only other part of the cocoon that shattered was the hands, while the legs simply split and began to flow out behind him.

The other occupants could only look at the blond in disbelief as they took in his new face, a much leaner one that lacked the distinctive whisker marks he had possessed since he was born, while his eyes were no longer the vibrant blue they once were, but instead a cold steel colour, on a black sclera. However, what shocked Iruka the most was his hair, it was now the exact same as the Yondaime hokages, which combined with his slimmed down face and the lack of whiskers, made him the spitting image of the greatest ninja ever to grace Konoha's ranks.

"_Uh… Hōgyoku, why isn't the rest of the cocoon disappearing?"_

"I thought that since you are a warrior, you would appreciate the protective casing, considering the fact that it is completely weightless, as flexible as silk and tougher than steel," came the reply from the feminine orb.

"_Really? That's so cool, thanks!"_ Naruto thought gratefully.

"Huh, Naruto? Are you talking to anything?" the Hokage asked as he watched the blonds changing facial expressions.

"Oh sorry, I was talking with the Hōgyoku."

"The Hōgyoku? Is that the Kyūbi's real name?" the aged leader asked, unfamiliar with the name Naruto just gave him.

"Huh? Nah, Kyūbi's asleep, I mean this," Naruto told him while gesturing to the black orb embedded in his chest.

"Huh? The bloodline orb?"

"She prefers to be called Hōgyoku," Naruto told him calmly.

"Um excuse me Hokage-sama, what do you mean the 'bloodline orb'?" Iruka asked in confusion.

"What you are about to hear Iruka is an S-class secret, that object that appears to have merged with Naruto is the creator of all bloodlines," the aged leader told him, earning a shocked look off of the instructor, "however, it has never merged with anyone before, I have no idea what will happen to Naruto."

"Hōgyoku doesn't create bloodlines, merely unlocks them," Naruto corrected.

"Wait, what do you mean unlocks them?"

"Hōgyoku has the ability to read a person's heart, she then breaks down the barriers placed on a person's power in order to fulfil their desires… she's merged with me because in order to fulfil my desires, she has to break all of my barriers, though that will take a long time, so she has merged with me, with her first point of action being to reconstruct my chakra coils to be large enough to keep all my chakra," he explained.

Processing the information they had just learned, both Iruka and the Hokage came to one particular barrier they had almost forgotten about.

"THE SEAL!" they both shouted in terror.

"Don't worry, that is a barrier but it isn't a barrier on my power, but a barrier to keep my power separate from Kyūbi's," Naruto told them casually, "besides Kyūbi said it'll give me a chance to get it to NOT hate me."

"WHAT!"

"What? It said it hated humans by default but since the barriers on my strength are going to be broken I'm not going to be staying human, so it's going to get to know me before deciding if it hates me or not," Naruto told them calmly causing both adults to look at each other before looking back at the blond.

"And you actually trust it?"

"Not really, but if it is actually going to give me a chance then I guess I should do the same," he admitted.

"Sigh… so the bloodline orb," "Hōgyoku," "fine then, Hōgyoku is essentially reconstructing your body and breaking any barriers on your strength… exactly what will you be capable of when it's finished with you?" the Hokage asked hoping to learn at least some of Naruto's potential.

"Let's see… other than being capable of using every bloodline in existence, I'm not entirely sure, but Hōgyoku told me that I have the potential to become a god," the blond said with a happy smile.

"…"

"…"

"A god."

"Yep."

"I think that is a little too much Naruto."

"What? You got a problem with that?"

"Not really, but I don't think I would entirely trust this Hōgyoku as it likes to be called," Sarutobi finally said straight out.

"You might not but I do, because unlike you she let me know about Kyūbi," the dark eyed blond said, his eyes beginning to radiate the oppressive power that the small orb possessed, before as suddenly as it had come, it left.

Sarutobi couldn't help but sweat a little, the sheer power behind that glare was like nothing he had ever seen before and hoped he would never see again. Many people had called him fearless because of his ability to face any danger head on and never back down, however they were wrong, he wasn't fearless, the number of times he had been terrified walking onto the battlefield was greater than he could count, but he was courageous, he would never back down, he would never let his fear conquer him and now was no exception.

"Naruto, please understand that I had my reasons for not telling you."

"Like what?"

"(sigh) I had hoped that by keeping it a secret you could grow up like a normal child and make friends, but it would appear as though that isn't the case," the old man told him, unhappy with the lack of success his plan had managed to achieve.

"(sigh), I guess I can understand where you're coming from, but how can I trust you? You've kept one big part of my life a secret, so what's to say you aren't keeping more from me? I, I just can't trust you anymore old man, I'll see you whenever I feel like it," Naruto said with just a hint of anger in his voice, before he turned and left the aged leaders office.

After being shocked by the blonds complete lack of respect, Iruka turned to face the one man that had complete jurisdiction over all of Konoha. He was expecting to see the kind but alert leader he was so used to seeing, however when he looked, all he saw was a tired old man, cradling his face in the palms of his hands.

"I've made a big mistake keeping things from him, haven't I Iruka?"

Thinking back on the encounter, the Sandaime Hokage couldn't help but realise one thing, the chances of someone NOT noticing the similarities between Naruto and the Yondaime was practically non-existent. With that in mind, he decided to do something he should have done a long time ago.

"Iruka, please bring Naruto-kun back… I have to speak with him alone."

"Hai Hokage-sama," and with that, the Chūnin instructor left via the standard Konoha shunshin.

XXX

Naruto was angry, he didn't know why he was so angry, sure he knew why he was angry but what confused him was the sheer amount of anger coursing through his veins when he thought about what the old man had kept from him.

Sure he could understand keeping the truth from the rest of his age group, but it was quite possibly THE most important piece of information he could have possibly been given and it was kept a secret from him.

"I am sorry Naruto-san, but it is my fault you are feeling so angry at the moment," the small black orb told him.

"_Huh? Why is it your fault?"_

"You see I have completed the process of reassembling your body and rebuilding your chakra coils and have proceeded to start breaking your barriers, starting with your mental barriers, the destruction of the first barrier has increased your concentration span, allowing you to think over what happened earlier more than you would have otherwise."

"_Uh, did you just say reassembling my body?"_

"I'm sorry, I must have forgotten to tell you earlier but I have been reconstructing your body to be capable of handling the changes I will be making, and tonight I will be making you less… vertically challenged," the powerful orb told him.

"…"

"WHAT THE HELL DO YA MEAN VERTICALLY CHALLENGED?!" Naruto shouted out indignantly, fortunate that there was no one on the street to witness his outburst.

"**Saying you're vertically challenged is a nice way of saying you're a shortarse, now shut up, I'm trying to sleep here,**" the deep voice of Kyūbi sounded in his head, before the blond couldn't help but sweatdrop at what it said.

"There you are Naruto," the familiar voice of Iruka called out from behind him, "Hokage-sama wants to talk to you alone."

"What the hell does he want to talk to me about?!" the black eyed blond snapped back at the instructor.

"I don't know, he just said that he needed to speak with you alone."

"This had better be good, I'm still pissed at him for keeping Kyūbi from me," Naruto muttered through gritted teeth before allowing the Chūnin to take him to the Hokages office via shunshin.

XXX

The Sandaime was thinking over how to explain what he was going to tell the blond when a large gust with several leaves flying in it appeared within his office.

"Hokage-sama," Iruka said respectfully as the duo appeared.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked with a noticeable amount of hostility in his voice.

"(sigh) Iruka, could you please leave Naruto alone with me," it might have sounded like a question but everyone in the room knew it was an order, so being the good little ninja he was, Iruka left his student alone with the strongest ninja in Konoha.

A tense silence filled the room before it was broken by the blond, "if you want to talk to me then start already, otherwise I'm leaving."

"It's about your parents," Sarutobi said quickly.

Rage. That was the one emotion flowing through Naruto at that moment, just pure unbridled rage. Not only had the man in front of him kept the Kyūbi a secret from him, but also his very heritage.

Seeing the sheer anger on the blonds face, the Hokage knew he had to do something to salvage whatever relationship he had with the blond immediately.

"Please just listen Naruto, both your parents were famous ninja who made a large number of enemies, and unfortunately you would have told everyone if you had known that your father was the Yondaime."

Naruto froze. His father was the Yondaime of all people. His idol. The one that sealed the Kyūbi inside him.

"Why did he seal the Kyūbi inside me?"

That was the one question he had hoped the blond wouldn't ask, since all he had were suspicions and no real reason… and unfortunately none of the suspicions were going to make the blond happy.

"(sigh) I don't know why, all I have are suspicions."

"And what are your suspicions?"

Taking a deep breath, Sarutobi said the one thing that he knew could destroy the blonds image of the greatest ninja Konoha had ever produced, "to maintain the balance of the bijū."

"You mean, there was another way to stop the Kyūbi and he chose to make my life a living hell," Naruto ground out through gritted teeth, "just what sort of bastard was he?"

"Naruto, please calm down, I understand that you feel angry but please don't hate your father, as I said I don't actually know why he chose to seal the Kyūbi inside you, nobody does, all we know is that that is what he did and nothing can change that fact."

Trying to clear his head, Naruto proceeded to ask a question that he had almost forgotten about.

"What about my mother?"

"She was a powerful Konoichi with a… unique style of ninjutsu," the old leader said with a sad smile, "she was also the former host of the Kyūbi."

Naruto was shocked, his mother was the previous host of the Kyūbi, but that meant.

"Why did she release it?"

"She didn't. You see Naruto-kun, the seal is always at its weakest during childbirth… the only plausible explanation is that the seal was weakened enough for the beast to escape, that is also one of the reasons why your mother is no longer among the living," the aged Kage explained.

"I see…"

"…"

"Is that everything you wanted to tell me?"

"Not quite," the aged leader said, before pulling out a standard Konoha hitae-ate, "I don't think it's fair to fail an Uzumaki because they can't perform a standard bunshin… they simply have too much chakra for it."

Slowly taking the headband, Naruto said something the aged leader never thought he would hear from the blond, "thank you, Hokage-sama."

"I guess I should take that as a case of you still don't trust me."

"Yeah, you betrayed my trust once, I'm not just going to forgive you just like that… but you've taken the first step towards it," Naruto informed the Hokage, "if that's all, I'm tired."

"Yes Naruto-kun… well except that you are to come here tomorrow to get your photo taken for your ninja licence, that is all," and with that said, Naruto left for his apartment.

XXX

Later that night, we find Naruto walking towards the Kyūbi's cage within his mind, with a single agenda in mind.

"Hey! Fox!" he shouted once he was within the room that contained the massive cage.

"**Let me guess, you're angry about your mother's death being linked to me,**" the massive beast said casually.

"Damn right I am!"

"**Let me tell you a little something, when a bijū is extracted from its host, the damage caused is too great for most ningen to survive, it was simply amazing that she didn't die straight away,**" the giant fox informed him.

"Extracted?"

"**Yes, far more than what your hokage believes, happened that night, with one of those things being the fact that I didn't escape the seal during childbirth, but was extracted afterwards for the sole purpose of levelling Konoha.**"

"WHAT! Who the hell would do such a thing?"

"**The answer to your question is simple, I don't like you enough to tell you that or the real reason behind me being sealed within you… but to put it bluntly, maintaining the balance of the bijū wasn't the main reason behind me being sealed again, merely a side effect. Now if you don't mind, I want to finish off my beauty sleep.**"

"Beauty sleep?"

"**Yes.**"

"That would mean that you're either a girl or gay," the blond deadpanned.

"**The first.**"

"You don't really sound like one."

"**You try sounding like one when you're vocal cords are as large as mine.**"

"But I thought kitsune were shapeshifters?"

"**They are.**"

"Then don't you have a human form?"

"**Yes, but I don't like you enough to let you see it.**"

"I'll shut up now."

"**Good.**"


	3. Chapter 3

The Konoha academy was bustling with activity as the newly graduated genin arrived to discover who they were going to be teamed with during their time as genin.

However there was one room that was unusually quiet.

Naruto was simply sitting in his normal seat, thinking over everything that had happened over the past couple of days. From obtaining the Hōgyoku, meeting Kyūbi, learning about his parents, meeting the Hokages grandson Konohamaru and of course, his sudden growth spurt that made him the second tallest in the class.

The Hōgyoku had broken all of his mental barriers since then and he had to admit, he felt great. He had quickly discovered that all the barriers on his memories had been broken, so he now possessed photographic, instant recall memory that allowed him to go over everything he ever saw in the academy, including the way other students treated him.

Like how Sakura always belittled him and even on occasion, physically abused him, sure he had liked the attention before, but since having his mind forced to operate at full capacity, he no longer cared about negative attention.

Then there was of course the shortest member of the class, Hyūga Hinata. With his newly awakened mental capacities, it didn't take long to realise that the girl acted around him like practically every other girl acted around Sasuke, which he finally managed to realise meant she had a crush on him. But then he thought about what she did for him… nothing. She never talked to him, preferring to hide in her jacket. She didn't take the time to get to know him as a person, just like Sasuke's fangirls. It was then that he realised something… admiration is the farthest emotion from understanding.

It was this line of thinking that made him decide to do something he would've never even attempted to do before now, he would talk to Sasuke as nothing more than an acquaintance… after he got there that is.

The minutes passed and the room began to flood with students, each of whom turned eerily quiet upon seeing the blond that looked so similar to their deadlast loser AND the Yondaime Hokage.

"_So, what are you working on right now Yoku-chan?"_ Naruto asked in his mind.

"Why do you insist on calling me that now?" the small orb replied to his question.

"_Because calling you Hōgyoku all the time kinda gets a little annoying… makes you sound like nothing more than an object,"_ he answered calmly.

"I am an object."

"_With a conscious, as far as I'm concerned that makes you more than just an object."_

"Fine then, and to answer your question, I am currently breaking the barriers on your potential to convert your chakra into one of the five base elements, to put it bluntly, I am increasing the number of affinities you possess."

"_I take it that I still only have one at the moment."_

"That assumption is correct."

"_How long will it take for you to unlock my affinities for every element?"_

"It should take approximately one to two days for me to break all of those barriers ."

"_Then what will your next point of call be?"_

"I will then begin to unlock your ability to combine certain elements to create subelements."

"_I see."_

He waited in the uncomfortable silence, fully aware of why they were looking at him like that, they probably didn't recognise him… hell it took him by complete surprise when he saw himself in the mirror after waking up from his first night of sleep after finding the Hōgyoku.

Eventually the door opened to reveal the prince of Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke. Upon seeing the blond, Sasuke couldn't help but blink at his strange new appearance, however he decided that whatever had happened to him was nothing to do with him, so he went and sat in his usual seat, the one right beside Naruto.

There was silence before Sasuke asked something.

"I take it you're the dobe."

"Yeah… however I'm not going to be staying like that for long," came the quiet reply.

"Heh, just because you've got a new look doesn't mean you're a new person."

"That is true. Now, I have a question for you."

"Go ahead."

"How can you handle all the admiration you receive?" Naruto asked genuinely.

"It's harder than it appears."

"Because admiration is the farthest emotion from understanding there is," Naruto stated, causing several students to blink in disbelief at what he was saying, "I remember I used to admire you, that admiration turned to jealousy but I never truly knew you as a person, just what you were capable of," he admitted, causing the stunned Uchiha to look at him in shock, "however, I have decided that I will try my hardest to understand you instead of simply see you, so until we understand each other, are you prepared to call a truce?" he finished, holding out his hand for the dark haired boy to shake should he decide to accept the deal.

After several moments, the dark haired avenger did what no one expected, he grasped the blonds hand and said a single word "truce."

Releasing their handshake, both boys proceeded to sit quietly, both waiting for the everyday stampede that was Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino racing each other to get the seat next to Sasuke.

"Hey, Naruto."

"Yes Sasuke?"

"When Sakura and Ino arrive, please don't move for them," Sasuke asked the blond politely, shocking the rest of the class with his demeanour.

"Very well, neither of them will take this seat."

Not long after saying that, the telltale stampede was heard, before the door was flung open, revealing the blond and pinkette, side by side, each trying to push through the door before the other.

"Hah! I won forehead!"

"In your dreams Ino-pig! My foot came in first!"

"Actually Ino's foot was approximately 2.7 millimetres in front of yours Sakura," Naruto said, putting his newly unrestricted brainpower on show.

"Huh? Naruto-baka? Is that you?" both the girls asked in confusion as they looked at the mop of spiky blond hair and then the chillingly dark eyes.

"That is correct."

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Sakura shouted at him.

"Do you see this?" he responded, pointing towards his hitae-ate, "it was given to me by the Hokage himself. Apparently no one from my family has ever been capable of using, simply because they have all had too much chakra to form a stable illusionary construct," he explained, earning several disbelieving looks off the other members of the class.

"Like I care, now move so I can sit next to Sasuke-kun!"

"No."

Both Sakura and Ino froze. Naruto had just said no to Sakura. Whoever this person was, he was NOT Naruto.

"Alright, who are you? You're definitely NOT Naruto-baka, he would never say no to me!"

"First things first, I AM Naruto, however I have had a few… upgrades, that have caused me to think over everything that has happened in my life. During my thinking I came to the realisation that you have done nothing but belittle and physically abuse me in an attempt to make yourself feel valued. To put it simply, I have come to the realisation that you are NOT the perfect person I was once so blind to see you as and as such, my infatuation with you has died."

"What do you mean by that? Name one time I've been horrible to you."

"Then name one time you have been nice to me."

"EVERYONE SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" came the familiar voice of Iruka as he used the patented 'demon head technique' to get the classes attention.

Sakura sat down next to the now cold blond. However she began to think over every interaction she had with him before. Ten minutes later at the end of Iruka's speech about making Konoha proud, she had begun to realise just what the blond had meant.

In every encounter she could remember, she had always talked down to him or ended up hitting him for some reason or another, usually something trivial.

"Team seven will consist of Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke," silence, everyone looked to see a pair of apathetic faces and one depressed one.

"Are you alright Sakura?" Iruka asked concerned about his pink haired student.

"Y-yeah," she replied in a much more subdued manner than she normally did.

Iruka continued with the team announcements when he heard that, he knew something was wrong, but he just didn't know what it was.

When the class was dismissed for lunch, Sakura proceeded to try and find the blond and apologize for her previous actions. However she simply couldn't find him after losing both him and Sasuke in the crowd.

XXX

"So… what did you mean when you said upgrades?" Sasuke asked as the duo occupied an unused classroom for lunch.

"I'm afraid that I don't understand you well enough to give you that information yet… perhaps in time I will, but not yet," Naruto replied.

"I see, however don't expect me to tell you my secrets if you won't tell me yours."

"I understand what you are saying, however, I would rather tell you after I know you are trustworthy."

"I guess I can see where you're coming from," Sasuke admitted, "so you've given up on Sakura… do you plan on chasing someone else instead?"

"No I don't. I had originally thought about the Hyūga's actions around me and realised that she admired me like most of the girls in our class admire you… I don't want to enter a pathetic excuse of a relationship like that."

"So you at least understand one of the reasons I don't like them… but since I'm an Uchiha, I also have to make sure that any woman I enter a relationship with is strong, otherwise I would be dishonouring my ancestors."

"I see… so not only do you have to deal with there not being enough girls that don't admire you, but also having to find one that's strong as well," the blond proceeded to summarise.

"Yeah…"

"..."

"I think it is time we headed back now," Naruto said calmly as he put his empty bento away and left for their normal classroom, with the last Uchiha not far behind.

XXX

"So this is Uzumaki's apartment… it's quite a dump," a tall man with spiky silver hair, a face mask that covered his mouth and a slanted hitae-ate hiding his left eye said as he was shown around the blonds apartment by the Hokage himself.

"I know Kakashi, now if you would please sit down, I would like to give you some new orders," the aged leader told him sternly, causing the masked ninja to sit on one of the chairs surrounding Naruto's kitchen table, "I want you to pass team 7 regardless of your own personal opinions."

"May I ask why?"

"To put it simply, I'm concerned about Naruto. At the moment he doesn't actually have anything keeping him loyal to Konoha, I want that to change… even if it is just his team."

"So you want me to pass them to ensure Naruto's loyalty to Konoha, is that everything you want?"

"No Kakashi, I know this isn't normal but I want you to start training team 7 straight off the bat instead of giving them time to adjust to taking missions for Konoha."

"Why? We both know it is custom to give genin a three month period to adjust to their new roles in the village… why change it now?"

"Because Naruto is evolving."

"Huh?"

"By the time the three month period is up, Naruto could very well possess every bloodline in history, I want him to be capable of at the very least utilizing each of them, which means making sure he is fully trained up on the basics."

"I seriously doubt that it is even possible for someone to possess more than two bloodlines, let alone every last one," Kakashi said apathetically.

"(sigh) Kakashi, I will tell you something that I don't want you to tell anyone. Within the forbidden scroll was a small orb that is the source of every bloodline in history," Sarutobi told him, shocking the Jōnin in the process, "when Naruto stole the scroll… he merged with the orb, it is now a part of him and is slowly unlocking every last bit of potential he possesses."

"Every last bit of potential he possesses?"

"According to Naruto, the orb has told him that he will be a god when it is finished unlocking his power," the old ninja told the younger man, earning nothing more than a disbelieving stare off the silver haired Jōnin.

"And you actually believed him?"

"You haven't felt the power that orb possesses… when Naruto channelled its power, I felt more fear than I have ever known before, even the Kyūbi itself paled in comparison to the power I felt that instant."

"Fine then, I'll train them straight off the bat, however that doesn't mean he'll learn everything I have to teach," Kakashi said, still unconvinced by the Hokages reasoning, "and if I have to pass them, then I won't test them on their teamwork like I'm supposed to."

"As long as you make sure Naruto is given something within Konoha to hold on to then I don't care what you do."

"Hai Hokage-sama."

XXX

The classroom was empty except for team 7, two of which were sitting quietly, while the other was fidgeting restlessly.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura proceeded to walk over to her blond teammate before opening her mouth and saying what she had wanted to say since the team assignments.

"I'm sorry."

"Your apology is rejected," Naruto responded coldly.

"What?"

"I said your apology is rejected. If you are truly sorry then prove it by not acting like you have for so long."

Sakura was left stupefied by the blonds declaration. He DIDN'T forgive her. But he did give her a chance at redemption, one she would have to work hard to earn. One that had far more meaning than a simple apology.

"I will," she muttered quietly, before sitting down once again.

After another hour, Naruto and Sasuke were still sitting quietly (well Naruto was conversing with Kyūbi since she woke up from her beauty sleep) while Sakura was pacing up and down while occasionally muttering curses at their tardy sensei under her breath.

Suddenly the door opened revealing a lanky man wearing the standard Konoha Jōnin attire, with the exception of the slanted hitae-ate covering one eye, the mask covering his mouth and the gravity defying silver hair.

Quickly looking at his students, Kakashi couldn't help but freeze upon seeing the familiar face of his deceased sensei staring straight at him, with a set of cold, grey and black eyes.

Shaking himself out of his shocked state, Kakashi said what he had planned to since before he had arrived.

"My first impression is… I don't like you."

"The feelings mutual," Naruto said what everyone was thinking.

"Right… meet me on the roof," and with that said, the strange man vanished in a puff of smoke.

XXX

"Alright, now that you're all here, tell me about yourselves," the masked nin said once the trio had ascended the stairs to the roof.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, that is all you need to know aside from my skills which you can only accurately ascertain by testing yourself," the Hōgyoku's host said before anyone else could answer.

"That isn't really what I was after."

"And yet that is all you are getting."

"Fine then… you duckbutt," Kakashi said pointing towards Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke and I agree with Naruto."

"Haruno Sakura, same."

"_Great, I haven't managed to learn anything because of the mini-Minato," _the silver haired ninja thought as he rolled his eyes at their introductions.

"Fine then, I'll demonstrate what sort of introduction I'm after. My name is Hatake Kakashi, I like things and dislike others, I have many hobbies and my dream for the future is not something I can tell children."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and you aren't getting any more off me."

"Same."

"Not until you give us something useful."

"(sigh) fine then… now normally I am required to test your teamwork, but to be perfectly honest with you, I'm too lazy to do that so we'll just start training tomorrow and try to get you up to a decent level while taking on the odd D-rank mission here and there," Kakashi told them casually, "anyway, meet me at training ground three at seven am tomorrow, ya ne," and with that, he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

"Well then, I'll see you two tomorrow, until then," Naruto said before jumping from the roof, taking advantage of his newly reinforced body to land unscathed, before heading off to get some ramen… which he hadn't had since Iruka took him for some before the scroll incident.

XXX

Naruto was sitting quietly at his usual seat in Ichiraku's ramen, watching as the owner of the stall looked at him strangely.

"Thanks… itadakimasu," the blond said politely before beginning to chow down on the noodles in the way only he could.

"So what happened to you Naruto? You look so different it's scary."

"I'm simply evolving Teuchi-ojisan," the blond said, temporarily stopping to speak.

"Evolving? How can you be evolving?"

"That is my secret ojisan… another bowl please," the blond said placing the empty bowl in front of the chef.

"Heh, other than being better mannered, you are still the Naruto we know and love," the old man said swapping the bowl for a full one, "so you're a ninja now huh? Who's on your team?"

"Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura."

"The asshole and 'the most beautiful girl in the world'" Teuchi said, putting extra emphasis on the part he was once told about Sakura.

"Due to my evolution, I have altered my perception of them and am now proceeding to try and understand them as people rather than objectify them like I did before."

"This evolution thing sounds like it's changed you in more ways than one."

"My evolution is still occurring, however at the moment, my brain is functioning at 100% capacity when a human brain is only supposed to work at 5% capacity… of course it's going to change me," the blond explained to the cook.

"Wow… that sounds impressive."

"It is."

"…"

"…"

"Another bowl please."


	4. Chapter 4

Team seven was annoyed. It was currently 9:30 and there sensei still hadn't shown up.

"I must admit… I am surprisingly irritated with our sensei's lack of punctuality," Naruto stated blankly as he sat cross legged in the centre of the training ground.

"Agreed," came the annoyed agreement from a certain Uchiha.

"DAMMIT! WHY DOES THIS BASTARD KEEP MAKING US WAIT LIKE THIS?!" came the much louder cry of the pink haired member of the team.

"I am uncertain as to why, but I theorise that he is either doing this out of some form of sentimental reason… or he simply likes annoying us," the young blond stated bluntly, earning a pair of sweatdrops from his teammates.

"Yo," came the casual call from the cycloptic Jōnin as he appeared out of nowhere, shocking the young girl with his sudden proximity.

"You are once again significantly late Sensei, should we take this as a sign that you will never be on time for a meeting you schedule?" Naruto asked the chronically late Jōnin.

"Now where would the fun be if I told you that?" the one eyed ninja asked with an eye smile.

"It would be through not being castrated in your sleep," the black and silver eyed teen stated coldly.

"Is that a threat?"

"That is a promise."

"You honestly think you're good enough to castrate me in my sleep?"

"No, but I'm certain someone would be prepared to do it for us as long as the pay is correct," the blond stated, earning a sweatdrop from the silver haired shinobi.

"Okay… well then I think I'll just make today's training session so hard that you won't have the energy to hire someone," the oldest of the group said with an eyesmile that made the entire group nervous.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto had to admit, Kakashi was a slave driver when he wanted to be, teaching them the basics of a chakra control exercise that involved gathering your chakra to your feet and using it to stick to a tree while walking up it. The worst part however was the fact that the punishment for falling was running 10 laps of the training field, doing 50 sit ups, 100 single handed push ups with each hand and 50 squats. That might not sound like a lot but when you fall from the tree 35 times it easily adds up.

"**So did you enjoy your day?"** came a voice that you just knew was smirking while it said it.

"_It could've been worse… I would have preferred to of learned a form of nature transformation but he's the one with the schedule,"_ the blond replied in his mind, earning a snort of amusement from the Kitsune.

"Just because he creates the schedule does not necessarily mean he is doing what is best for you, simply what he thinks is best for you. Considering the fact that he doesn't know you at all, it is safe to assume that he is just giving your entire team basic training before going into something more complex," the power filled voice of the small orb stated emotionlessly.

"_Yeah Yoku-chan, but the fact of the matter is that I need to improve on the basics before learning anything more advanced."_

"**At least you admit it… and another thing, why don't you get Hōgyoku to unlock your shinigami powers? I know you want to learn your ninja skills first but the fact of the matter is that you have people to teach you them, you have NOTHING to teach you how to use shinigami powers except Hōgyoku and she admits that she doesn't really know much when it comes down to their skills… just their power," **Kyūbi asked in an attempt to persuade the blond to get his shinigami powers activated.

"_I guess you have a point there… hey Yoku-chan, how long would it take you to unlock my shinigami powers and how severe would the transformation be?"_

"In order to prepare your body for the transformation, it would require you to remain in the chrysalis stage for about a week. During the time you will not be capable of using anything except your muscles."

"_Uh, how will I eat?"_

"You will need to stock up on carbohydrates, proteins, sugars, salts and fats before entering the process, to put it simply, you will need to eat in a single serving, approximately 12 times more than normal."

"_Let me guess, the metamorphosis will increase my metabolism and make my body burn through the food almost twice as fast as normal."_

"That is correct."

"**Actually you got your calculations wrong, you forgot just how much ramen he eats in one sitting… he'll probably only need to eat twice as much as normal to go through with the process."**

"Ah, yes, I forgot about that."

"_Well then, we'll start after training tomorrow."_

"Very well then Naruto, I will ignore you're barriers on sub-elements for now and focus on unlocking your shinigami powers."

"_Thanks Yoku-chan."_

XXX XXX XXX

The next was essentially the same, except this time Kakashi arrived on time… probably to make sure that his students weren't coming late and to further annoy them, while at the end of the day, Naruto ate over 40 bowls of ramen, ready to undergo the next stage in his evolution… he had to admit that it felt weird to go to bed with the chrysalis smothering him.

XXX XXX XXX

"Hello little genin," came the chirpy greeting from the one eyed sensei as he arrived three hours late, "by the way Naruto… why the hell are you wearing a full body suit?"

"It is not a suit… it is a shell, I am currently undergoing another burst of evolution and as such, I am restricted to this cocoon and incapable of using chakra," the blond explained, surprising his teammates.

"So you can't use chakra huh? If you think that is going to get you out of this then you have another thing coming, after all, just because you can't use chakra doesn't mean we can't work on your taijutsu," came the menacing statement from the Jōnin.

"I wasn't expecting to get out of training sensei, I was simply stating that I will be incapable of undergoing chakra based training for the next week, which should give us time to work on my taijutsu, strategy and trap making."

"I see… well then, Sasuke, you can continue with the tree climbing exercise, same punishment as before, Sakura… you can learn a bit of taijutsu with Naruto," the one eyed ninja said with a tone that practically shouted 'do as I say or suffer the consequences', causing the young pinkette to slowly edge up to the slightly taller blond, "now then, you two will face me one on one in a taijutsu only spar, from there on I will determine whether or not I need to teach you... so how about you first whitey," he explained before pointing at the smothered form of Naruto.

XXX XXX XXX

That night, the blond was exhausted again. Once Kakashi had ascertained their skills, he proceeded to teach Sakura new Kata for her to follow and practice, only teaching her one at a time. While she was busy practicing her new attacks, Naruto was given a much simpler task… defeat him.

When the blond asked him why, the silver haired Jōnin's response was something he hadn't expected, 'because your skill almost tripled during my test and I could tell that you weren't holding back' or in other words, the Jōnin had said that the blond improved more through experience than practice.

XXX XXX XXX

The rest of the week went surprisingly quickly as the blonds training was changed to games of shōgi and practicing making traps.

The reason for this was a little problem the blond had discovered, he could no longer use his right arm during the spars courtesy of the now blade like form it took, of course he was assured by the orb that it was normal since every shinigami used to have a sword, but since he possessed a physical body, it was necessary for the ancient sphere to construct a solid construct for him to wield, apparently she broke some of his atoms down into their basic components(1) and reconstructed them as something different to create the weightless, steel extension of his body that was imbued with his soul.

Kakashi had informed him that once the blade had grown and he was certain of what he would be when finished, that they would then practice taijutsu for a week, before moving back to the chakra control exercise and teaching him jutsu from then onwards.

However what Naruto was most concerned about right now was the fact that his shell was cracking again… this time opening to reveal no changes except for the four foot long katana held firmly in his hands grasp. Its hand guard was designed like the spiral symbol that appeared on every Konoha flak jacket, except instead of being red, it appeared to be made of gold, while the grip was wrapped in a dark crimson cloth that was too long for the handle, resulting in it taking the appearance of a flowing tassel. The sheath was a simple crimson with golden flowers wrapping around the otherwise basic piece of wood.

Of course, Naruto had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do with these new powers, simply that they were there and he would have to learn how to harness them sooner or later. However right now he was supposed to meet his team for training.

XXX XXX XXX

Arriving at training ground three, Naruto and the others had to wait two hours for their sensei to show up.

"YOU'RE LATE!" came the angered call from the pink haired member of the team when the silver haired Jōnin arrived.

"Sorry, but I got lost on the road of life," came the unconcerned response from the hated Jōnin, "anyway, I see that you've finally decided to come out of your shell blondie," the Jōnin stated after seeing the blonds face again.

"Indeed, and I now possess a new weapon," the silver eyed genin stated as he unsheathed his blade slightly.

"Is that what was growing out of your arm?"

"That is a correct assumption."

"Well, I'll put it to you this way, I'm not much of a kenjutsu user and I no longer have a functioning blade to spar with you with, so you'll have to find your own sparring partner with that one," the cyclops stated calmly, before resuming their training. With Sasuke still working on tree climbing and Sakura still practicing her new taijutsu style, Kakashi said two simple words 'beat me'.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto slumped into his bed that night completely exhausted. Going by the previous rules of taijutsu only made his battle with Kakashi extremely one sided, despite his enormous improvement. Simply by using his instinct he was beginning to see what did and didn't work and was beginning to see a pattern emerge during his fight… if they kept up the taijutsu sparring for the rest of the week then he might actually have a fully functioning style by the end of it.

Of course he really could do with finding someone that could spar with him in armed combat and allow him to develop his own style of kenjutsu, he would need to see the old man about someone that could fight him… of course he would need to be capable of fighting on a level where he could keep fighting after training before he could make use of another sparring partner.

XXX XXX XXX

Kakashi had to admit, Naruto was definitely a quick learner. In just one week he had improved enough to fight on par with him with a completely unique style of taijutsu that was still being improved by the blond. One of the parts that made the style so dangerous was the fact that most attacks involved grappling the opponent and using a combination of speed and agility to slip attacks through the opponents guard while adjusting his body weight to avoid any counter attacks.

Of course, today would be different. Today he would make the blond continue the tree climbing exercise, this time without the punishment for falling, after all, over the past week the blond had been doing nothing but train his body with constant fighting.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, I have a question that has been irritating me," Naruto asked out of nowhere as he began to climb the tree with his chakra.

"What is it?" came the exasperated response from the Jōnin as he wondered what sort of stupid question the blond would come out with.

"Since we became genin, we have not been given a single mission, is that normal?" the blond questioned, causing the Jōnin to blink several times.

"No it isn't normal, however Hokage-sama has high expectations for your three and ordered me to give you intensive training this month, you will all get paid as if you have completed the average number of missions however when we finally do take a mission, we will apparently be restricted to C-ranks… that is why I want you all to be as strong as you can be by the end of the month," the experienced shinobi informed the trio, earning looks of shock in the process, "that is also why I am going to try to get Sasuke to activate his sharingan this week."

"His sharingan?" Naruto asked with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"His kekkei genkai," the Jōnin confirmed.

"_Hey Yoku-chan, how long would it take to awaken Sasuke's sharingan?"_

"Considering the fact that his ancestor had already had the limiters on that ability removed, it should only take a few seconds to remove the significantly weaker barriers he has… do you want me awaken it for him?"

"_What will you have to do?"_

"All that will be required is that you touch his forehead, I will do the rest."

"Kakashi-sensei, please wait a short while so I can do something with Sasuke," Naruto said calmly as he jumped from the tree and walked over to the dark haired teen, "just stay still, this will be over in a few seconds," and with that the blond placed two fingers on the dark eyed boys forehead, before the Uchiha's eyes bled red before changing into a strange design of three red eclipses overlapping at the centre, on top of a black iris.

"What the hell did you just do Naruto?!" Kakashi demanded upon seeing his students new eyes.

"I activated his sharingan."

"That ISN'T a sharingan," Naruto froze. The eyes Sasuke had weren't the sharingan, but he was certain that that was all the Hōgyoku had unlocked.

"Argh!" came the pained cry from the 'last Uchiha' as he began to clutch his head in agony, however by the time the Jōnin had reached him, he had stopped.

"Sasuke! Are you alright?" the cycloptic Jōnin asked in concern, already thinking about how to punish the blond for hurting his teammate.

"Yeah… I can't believe it… Itachi replaced my memories," the dark haired teen muttered, shocking the taller man in the process.

"What do you mean?"

"I can remember things I couldn't before… Naruto, whatever you did… thank you," Sasuke said with a small smile as his mind continued to process his newly unlocked memories.

"All I tried to do was unlock your sharingan and I didn't even manage to do that," the evolved blond muttered.

"No, you did," the raven haired genin corrected, shocking the others with his claim, " I remember now, Itachi's eyes were different to a regular sharingan during 'that'… he called it the Mangekyou… and said that the only way to unlock it was by murdering your best friend," the dark eyed teen informed them, further shocking his teammates, "I don't know how you did it, but I think you've managed to activate my Mangekyou… thank you."

Naruto was stunned, Hōgyoku had activated a level of the sharingan that his sensei didn't even know existed and not only that, but one with such a huge price to activate… then again she had also unlocked his shinigami powers so he couldn't really say it was surprising.

"Well then, if that is the case then we'll spend the rest of the week trying to figure out what your new eyes can do, so Naruto, get back to that exercise and Sasuke, come with me," and with those orders given, each got back to doing their own thing.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto had to admit, it was a lot easier to learn the tree climbing exercise when he didn't have to do an entire workout every time he fell, it was so much easier that with his enhanced mental capacities he managed to get it down in a couple of hours(2). Once he had finished the exercise, instead of finding his sensei, he used the time to try and harness his shinigami power and succeeded in killing a few birds when he released some of it.

Of course after explaining what had happened to Kakashi, he proceeded to find a more secluded area to try and figure out how to harness his Reiatsu. He had some success, in that he managed to call on the power at will, however other than that, he didn't really have a clue about what it could do except cause his enemies to freeze for a short time.

However at least now he knew how to harness that power, he would continue to practice with it when he got the chance and hopefully, he would find some use for it in the near future.

(1)I'm talking about Protons, Neutrons and Electrons, I'm not including Quarks since they don't really appear as their own entity.

(2)remember that he also has larger coils which means less pressure, making his chakra control better in the first place.


	5. Chapter 5

The Ichiraku Ramen stand had been steadily growing in business over the past month… probably because of one of the new customers, the 'last Uchiha', Uchiha Sasuke.

Since team 7 started their 'training' under Kakashi, they had started eating together, whether just to complain about how they could barely walk or to strategise for a 'practical examination' the next day. Of course, seeing the 'prince of Konoha' eating at a small stand like the Ichiraku's caused quite a stir within the civilian populace and in turn increased the small stands business.

"It's nice to know that we'll start doing missions tomorrow," Naruto stated as he took a mouthful of the noodle dish in front of him.

"Yeah… we'll finally be safe from Kakashi-sensei," Sakura replied as she decided to forgo manners and simply drain the bowl as quickly as she could… the training she had been forced to endure caused her to stop dieting simply from fatigue.

"I'm not going to bet on it," Sasuke muttered as his eyes shifted around the stand, subconsciously searching for the man that had made their lives a living hell over the past month.

"Of course you aren't, for one thing you're not a betting man," the spiky haired blond stated as he stated one of the things he had discovered about his teammate over the past month. Sasuke may have made the odd gamble but he never made one that was based purely on luck, if it could be altered by skill then he was prepared to try it but never if it wasn't something he could manipulate.

"There's nothing wrong with not taking stupid risks," the dark eyed boy stated as he ate his meal quicker than he would have before being made a genin.

"I'm not denying that, merely stating that you saying you wouldn't bet on something doesn't mean anything special," the black and grey eyed member of the group stated in a complete monotone.

"So what sort of mission do you think our first one will be?" Sakura asked out of the blue causing Naruto to turn to face her and tell her what he thought would be most likely.

"We'll probably be given a simple escort mission, despite our training we don't have much in the way of field experience and Kakashi-sensei said we would be restricted to C-ranks, the simplest of which are usually escort missions."

"Sounds simple enough, with all the training we've done something like that should be a walk in the park," Sasuke claimed upon hearing Naruto's theory… over the months he had learned that the blonds 'changes' not only effected his body and if anything, they effected his mind even more and instead of being a ramen and Sakura obsessed idiot he had actually grown to be a very intelligent individual… sure Sakura had more knowledge but Naruto was able to understand things faster and make theories that worked surprisingly well.

"Unless something goes seriously wrong, which is very possible outside the village walls," Naruto interjected, causing both to look at him with a look that said 'don't jinx it'.

"Seriously, what are the chances of something going wrong with a mission?" Sakura asked, wondering if the blond could work it out.

"That depends, there are some missions where the chance of it escalating are 100% simply because the client lied about the mission details to make it cheaper, while others simply have a lack of information," the spiky haired boy stated as he continued to eat his ramen.

"You're not making us feel any better ya know," the pinkette stated as she proceeded to order her second bowl… though she would be hard pressed to admit that she liked the noodles, unlike her blond teammate who despite his complete overhaul still considered them his favourite food and backed up his statement by happily eating over ten bowls every time he ate at the small stand.

"I'm not trying to make you feel better," came the blunt reply as he finished his eighth bowl of noodles and ordered another, "if I was I would be talking about Kakashi-sensei and how he's no longer going to be working us into the ground."

"Point taken," Sakura said in response to his statement.

"Is it just me or is this conversation going round in circles?" Sasuke suddenly asked causing Naruto to look at him blankly.

"Our conversation is going in circles," the white clad member of the team stated in a monotone.

"Good, I was beginning to think I was going mad."

"What says you aren't?" the jinchūriki asked, causing the raven haired boy to think for a few seconds.

"Nothing, but it's better to be mad and sound sane than be sane and sound mad," the young Uchiha said earning a couple of nods from his teammates.

"As long as you don't try and incinerate us it doesn't matter if you are mad or not," Naruto claimed earning a nod of agreement from their other teammate.

"Don't worry, if I was to try and incinerate anyone it would be Kakashi-sensei… anyway, I think I'll get an early night, don't want to be dead on my feet during our first mission," the dark eyed member of the team stated with a hint of mirth in his voice as he stood up.

"See you tomorrow Sasuke," the transcended human said calmly as the 'last' Uchiha put a tip on the counter for the family that ran the stand.

"Goodnight Sasuke-kun," Sakura said as she proceeded to finish her bowl just before the rookie of the year turned to leave.

"See you both tomorrow," and with that he was gone, leaving his pink haired teammate alone with the one person that had tried to understand him.

Silence reigned between the two as they both simply continued to eat, Naruto because he loved the noodles and Sakura because she was making up for her years of dieting so she wouldn't be a hindrance on any missions.

After several minutes of a calm silence, Naruto decided to break it.

"Sakura, how do you feel about going on missions right now?" it was a very simple question but the reason for asking it was even simpler and Sakura understood right away.

"I don't know… if we do C-ranks then I'm confident we'll all be fine, but if it escalates…" she didn't have to finish, her silence told her teammate everything he needed to know.

"I see, well I doubt it will escalate and even if it does, the only thing we'd need to worry about is if it becomes an A-rank, which is a very rare occasion from what I've heard from my sources," the spiky haired boy told her in a tone she rarely heard him use anymore, a comforting one.

Despite his regular lack of emotional displays now, he was still capable of feeling and showing emotion, he just didn't do it often, instead preferring to take a step back and look at a situation objectively instead of rushing in headfirst like he used to.

If Sakura was honest, she liked this new Naruto more than many people she knew, despite his generally cold persona he was still prepared to give her emotional support if she needed it and unlike before, he respected her privacy and didn't try to get her to date him every time they talked.

"Well, I guess I should be going home now, see ya later Naruto," the pink haired konoichi said as she proceeded to get out of her seat and make her way to the exit.

"Goodnight Sakura," and once again the child was alone.

XXX XXX XXX

Sasuke may have been known as the 'prince of Konoha' but that in itself had its own problems. Wherever he went he was always treated like he was special just for being spared during a senseless bloodbath. It was something that he didn't enjoy, he didn't want to be special because of his heritage, he wanted to be special because he did something to make him stand out.

The Shodaime Hokage founded Konoha and defeated Uchiha Madara in a battle that reshaped the very earth they fought on, the Nidaime possessed an immense talent in the field of Suiton ninjutsu, he created one of the few Kinjutsu with no known weaknesses except it's requirement to sacrifice human lives to use it and last but not least, he made several contributions in the area of Jikūkan ninjutsu. The Sandaime Hokage was known for mastering all shinobi arts, possessing a knowledge of jutsu that put an encyclopaedia to shame, being the strongest known ninja in history and for training the Sannin. And then the Yondaime was known for his infamous Jikūkan ninjutsu that allowed him to kill entire armies in minutes.

There were many others that were considered hero's, others that people considered special not because of some twisted decision made by their big brother when he decided to kill his entire family. He wanted to be special for reasons like the Hokages, not just because he was the last of his clan.

The Ichiraku's weren't like the rest. They treated him like any other customer… well except Naruto but that was because he kept them in business with his monstrous Ramen consumption so of course they were going to treat him differently, more like an extension of their family as opposed to a customer. It was this that made him go to the stand as often as he did, it simply felt good to be treated like a normal person, which is one of the reason's he decided to leave them tips, he didn't like spending money but he was happy to use it to show his appreciation… plus the noodles were the best he'd ever tasted.

Suddenly his mind focused on a memory unlocked by his teammate. It was a tiny alteration, barely noticeable but it stood out purely because of the significance it changed the certainty of what he knew. A single tear. Itachi had shed a single tear as he left the scene of the massacre. Did that mean he was regretting what he did? If so then why did he do it in the first place? His previous picture of the cold blooded monster that had slaughtered his family for no reason had been cracked. It was for that reason that he had decided to start exploring more of his home, hoping that somewhere he would find the answers he was looking for.

XXX XXX XXX

Later that night Naruto could be seen walking along a corridor, it's walls were painted red with white flowers scattered throughout, while simple candles lit what would have been a dark area. The floor was simple as well, wooden floorboards could be seen to the sides of a large crimson rug that stretched the entirety of the corridor.

He had to admit, he liked the new décor, he hadn't expected Kyūbi to be one for a warm and friendly colour scheme. He had decided that he would leave the décor of his mindscape to his tenants after all they were the ones that spent the most time there, he hadn't expected Hōgyoku to turn down the offer, he thought she would like some form of scenery but was quickly told that what she cared about was the heart's warmth, not the minds appearance.

So Kyūbi had been given full reign for decorating the area and despite his initial reservations he was pleasantly surprised at the foxes decisions. Since then however he had quickly grown to discover that the vixen wasn't all she was cracked up to be. She liked her naps, liked warm and bright colours, the sight of nature and especially liked getting massages… though he had only started giving the bijū them after they began to open up to each other.

That was another thing he had been surprised about, when she wasn't tired or having a bad day, the Kyūbi was actual quite talkative, able to converse about whatever subject popped up… that is as long as humans weren't a part of the conversation.

One thing he learned concerning the fox tied in with his mother. The previous seal it had been confined within was nothing like the one placed on him. Instead of being held in a cage, she had been pinned to his mothers chakra, kept in a position where she couldn't sleep even if she tried and had her chakra ripped from her whenever it was wanted.

If he was perfectly honest, Naruto didn't like the idea that his mother would do that, even if the victim was technically nothing more than a giant chunk of chakra. Of course all he had was the Kyūbi's word to take on that but then again, he didn't have any reason to not believe her, she wasn't particularly liked by Konoha ever since Uchiha Madara had used her to fight Senju Hashirama.

He quickly brought his mind back to the present as he entered the area where the foxes cage used to be. He had eventually decided to change the form of the seal, allowing the entity more freedom once he had grown to trust her more. Her power was still sealed, however now it was simply contained by a simple bracelet that could not be removed by her.

As he entered the area, he wasn't at all surprised to see the room lit by hundreds of candles, their light almost giving a starry feel to the ceiling as it stretched upwards. The rest of the decoration was similar to the hallway, scarlet walls decorated with flowers while a wooden floor was decorated with crimson rugs. The biggest difference outside of the shape of the room was the fact that unlike the halls, there was furniture, a large white corner group sofa, soft to even the most insensitive of touches, and pair of king size beds, each decorated with crimson blankets and pillows, while a white sheet covered the mattresses and each possessed a hint of privacy in the form of curtains suspended from balconies above them… currently one of them was closed.

"Hello Yoku-chan, I take it Kyūbi is sleeping," he stated as he looked at the sofa and saw the one responsible for his new life.

"I assume that is what she is doing, though we may be wrong," the orb told him in a warmer voice than she had back when he first merged with her. Over the month he had worked tirelessly to try and install a sense of value for herself, whether that was by calling her Yoku-chan, or by conversing with her, never once demanding anything from her and rarely asking for anything. It may have been slow but he was beginning to see results.

Little did he realise that the most important part of his attempts was something he couldn't control. His heart had quickly grown to accept her as precious to him, deep down he was prepared to die to protect her and although it was taking some time, that feeling was slowly being absorbed by the ancient orb and slowly but surely, she was beginning to feel like she may be more than just an object.

Naruto moved quietly, in full view of the inversed eyed woman, before he slipped behind her, slightly confusing her by the action before she felt a feeling she had only felt a few times before, though every time it had happened was with the blond.

Her body may have been non-existent however that did not mean her mental projection in his mind was without feeling and the feeling that coursed through her fake body was pleasing to say the least. Firm but gentle hands griped the back of her shoulders, the thumbs slowly caressing the false muscles as the hands began to move, taking the muscles it them, causing their normal tension to ease as they simply began to go with the flow.

Hōgyoku couldn't help but admit that her new host was gifted when it came to the art of giving a shoulder massage and was beginning to wonder if he would ever try giving a full body massage to anyone except Kyūbi… then again Kyūbi was a completely different scenario, since he was giving a full body massage to a fox as opposed to a human.

It was something that confused Hōgyoku about the vixen, despite her apparent acceptance of the blond she would still only show him her fox form, even if she did decrease her size dramatically from when they had first met, changing from the threatening monstrosity she had originally shown herself to him as, to what could essentially be called cute… especially when she decided to rest on the boy's shoulders.

That fact made the orb wonder to itself, did the fox have something to hide? Or was it merely shyer than it made itself out to be?

"Are you enjoying this Yoku-chan?" Naruto asked rhetorically, he could tell by her body language that she did.

"Indeed, thank you Naruto, it is very relaxing," the response was simple and gave him a sense of satisfaction as he continued to caress the ancient beings shoulders.

The woman however suddenly felt a greater warmth from the blonds heart when she answered his question, a warmth that flooded her body and increased the bliss she was feeling as his heart touched her more than it normally did… it helped cement a feeling she had had for awhile now, she truly liked to be near the boys warmth and didn't want to leave… she just hoped he would accept her as a permanent resident instead of just a temporary worker… and if so, would he give her what she wanted when his realm of control was unlocked?


	6. Chapter 6

There were times that Iruka felt upset. This however was one of the times when he felt angry as opposed to upset.

"You can't be serious Hokage-sama!" came his outraged cry at what he was hearing, "there's no way they're ready for a C-rank!"

"I'm sorry, Iruka but my decision is final, team 7 is to travel to the small town of Asahi and eliminate a small bandit camp that has settled in that area," the aged leader ordered while puffing his pipe and passing the mission scroll the Kakashi, who accepted it calmly.

"Hai Hokage-sama, team 7, pack for a one week trip and meet me by the gate in one hour," the lanky man ordered them before disappearing with a shunshin.

"I can't believe I forgot to ask him to teach me that," Naruto muttered quietly, earning nods of agreement from his teammates before they left the room in order to prepare for their first mission.

"I can't believe you're sending them on a C-rank already, what if something goes wrong?" Iruka asked the shinobi no kami as he wondered what the old man was thinking.

"Iruka, do you have any idea how much those three have grown in the past month?" the question was simple but it caused the Chūnin to stop and think for a few seconds.

"Not enough to let them take a C-rank!"

"What if I was to tell you that Naruto can defeat Kakashi in Taijutsu, Sakura can beat him in genjutsu and Sasuke has attained the eyes that allowed Itachi to slaughter an entire clan?" the aged leader asked, smirking a little at the shocked expression that appeared the pineapple haired man's face.

"What? Are you serious? There is no way they could've grown THAT much in just a month!" the scarred instructor stated trying to convince the aged leader otherwise.

"And yet they did," Sarutobi stated, "now that is enough arguing, there are others that require missions."

XXX XXX XXX

"_**So your first mission is to slaughter a group of bandits, sounds fun,"**_ came a familiar voice within Naruto's head as he proceeded to pack for the mission.

"_Perhaps, however I believe the old man is giving us this one to get us used to killing more than anything else,"_ Naruto replied as he placed several kunai within the pouch he kept under his cocoon.

"_**Ah yes, I forgot that humans need to adjust to killing others," **_Kyūbi said as she remained in his head. The first time he had heard her outside of her enormous state he had needed to do a double take. Despite the amount of power that could be sensed in the voice, it was shockingly… non masculine, if anything her voice sounded closer to that of the girls in his class than the women he had heard talking around the village.

"_Yes, and please remember that I'm still human right now,"_ Naruto told the kitsune, earning a small sigh off the vixen.

"_**Yeah…"**_ the silence that followed was both unexpected and concerning for the blond as he finished packing his equipment and deciding that he would go to the gate before trying anything within his mind.

XXX XXX XXX

Within his mind, closed off from his conscious another conversation started as Hōgyoku decided to get answers from her roommate.

"Explain," was all the dark haired orb said as she looked at the small red fox in front of her.

"**Explain what?" **Kyūbi asked wondering what the higher being wanted to know.

"Why you keep distancing yourself from Naruto," the inverse eyed woman stated, earning a look of surprise from the bijū as it wondered what she meant.

"**What do you mean by that? I'm letting him in MUCH further than any other human would get a chance of getting,"** the chakra construct said with a hint of indignation in her voice.

"Perhaps, but you are still being very picky about what you let him know about you… is there something you are trying to hide from him?" the indestructible orb asked wondering if her roommate was hiding something that she thought would change the blonds opinion of her.

"**You forget the difference between us orb,"** it was a simple statement that made the dark haired woman pause for an instant as she thought over the differences between them and what could possibly change the fox's openness, **"I'll give you a hint, it's what you do naturally."**

Hōgyoku instantly realised the difference the Kyūbi was speaking of as soon as she said that, while Hōgyoku could read hearts, Kyūbi could only sense the darkness in a person's heart, however the source of that darkness was a complete mystery to the nine tailed vulpine.

"So you don't trust him yet?" the way she said it made it unclear if it was a statement or a question, however just to make sure the being understood, Kyūbi nodded her head in affirmation.

"**He might not have a lot of darkness in his heart but it is focused, that's all I can tell… but I wouldn't be surprised if it was directed at me, after all, it was my presence that made his life as hard as it was,"** the red eyed vixen stated, earning a minor change in expression off the pale woman.

"I see. If I was to tell you that the darkness is not directed at you, you wouldn't believe me would you?" it was a simple question and the response was the one that the orb expected.

"**Of course not… it's obvious that you are biased towards the child, I have no proof you haven't been conspiring with him to try and hurt me,"** the bijū stated calmly as she lay on one of the sofa's happy with the comfort it gave her.

"Your point of view is understandable, however I must ask what it would take for you to truly open up to Naruto," once again the ancient being asked a question that the fox found difficult to answer.

"**A pure heart."**

XXX XXX XXX

Sakura's heart was beating faster than normal, she was finally going on her first C-rank mission, far earlier than most genin teams she had heard of. She knew her history and a genin team starting C-ranks in just a month after graduation only occurred in times of war when everybody was needed on the front lines as opposed to gaining a little bit of money here and there.

Just like the entire team, she had known that they would be starting on C-ranks instead of the usual D-ranks that most teams did, she didn't mind, she and her teammates were more than strong enough to deal with any non-ninja threat, though she was also certain that she was the only one on the team that would have trouble if a nuke-nin showed up.

That is provided the enemy was no higher than B-rank in the bingo book. Both Naruto and Sasuke had unique enough abilities that they could probably hold their own against an A-rank if worst came to worst. In other words, as long as the opponent wasn't a fully fledged Jōnin or a Kage level ninja they should be capable of winning, even if she was certain Sasuke would have to use his Mangekyou to do so.

At one point she would have packed her bags differently, putting more clothes than necessary in case she needed to change, however her recent training regime had changed her significantly from how she was upon leaving the academy. Back then she cared about three things, her grades, her looks and Sasuke. Everything else took a back seat including her training.

And now she was finally trying to pay off the debt her idleness had built up during her education. It was anything but easy, trying to build up a strong body after several years of doing nothing but diet and groom herself was proving to be even harder than she had anticipated, however she was an official konoichi of Konoha and giving up now just wasn't an option.

Finally finishing her packing, she said her goodbyes to her family and left for her first mission.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto was partially surprised that he was the first to reach the gate, not that he was complaining but he had expected to see Sakura already there and waiting, however he wasn't caught off guard by the simple fact that she lived further away from the gate than he did.

He had simply assumed that she would have been fully packed and ready to go as soon as they had received the mission. Of course he was allowed to be wrong.

Calmly taking a seat leaning against the gates that were currently wide open, Naruto proceeded to think of the mission the team had been given. It was a C-rank which meant that they were only expected to deal with bandits as opposed to nuke-nin, however just because they were only supposed to deal with bandits didn't mean that there wasn't a possibility of a nuke-nin having a place within the group.

If so then there was a possibility that the group might be more dangerous than expected and the mission would therefore have the potential to escalate, if the identity of their sensei didn't cause that to happen anyway.

It was something that many people forgot to factor into a mission, the team being sent on it. He knew about Kakashi's fame, which meant that there was a high chance that a team of Iwa ninja would stop to try and kill them if they ever saw the team, if anyone knew of Sasuke's heritage as an Uchiha and had spies within Konoha then it was possible that a team of kekkei genkai procurers might be sent to capture him.

All in all there were many possibilities for things to go wrong and only one of them could be predicted, only the possibility of there being a nuke-nin among the bandits could be prepared for, the other possibilities could happen but didn't occur often, meaning that for the most part they would only really have to worry about the mission.

At the same time however, he still felt bad about not knowing exactly what would happen on this C-rank.

XXX XXX XXX

Arriving at the main gate, Sasuke wasn't surprised to see his teammates already there and waiting for both him and their sensei. Unlike them he didn't simply pack and leave for the gate, he had spent what time he could spare searching his home once again, this time however, he had actually found something.

His father's journal. He had originally not thought much of it, however then he realised just how well hidden it was. Anything that well hidden was bound to have some secrets stored within its pages and Sasuke would be damned if he didn't at least try to discover those secrets. Besides, they would be away from the village for about a week if what Kakashi told them was accurate, so he could do with some reading material.

The team was fully expecting to have to wait for several hours before their sensei showed up, however much to their surprise he arrived dead on time… and boy did they let him know it.

"Alright! Who are you and what have you done with Kakashi-sensei?!" came the stern shout from the pink haired member of the team as the cycloptic Jōnin showed up significantly earlier than they expected.

"What are you talking about Sakura?" the lack of amusement present in the older man's voice did nothing to betray his emotions as he was accused of being an imposter by one of his own students.

"You are on time, that is all the evidence we need to know that you are not our sensei," Naruto interjected, causing the man to roll his eye at the statement.

"Really? I can recall four times that I was on time for your training sessions," the silver haired man replied, earning a chakra infused glare off a certain Uchiha as he contemplated burning the older man… or maybe…

Just as Kakashi was about to tell the last Uchiha to turn off his Mangekyou, he eye went wide in fear as the worst possible scenario happened… his favourite little orange book burst into black flames in the middle of his hand, causing him to drop his precious piece of literature in order to save his fist from the all consuming flames.

Both Naruto and Sakura could do nothing but stare in shock at the scene before them, Sasuke had literally decided to incinerate their sensei's most prized possession with his Amaterasu, it was proof of two things… one, Sasuke was suicidal and two, it really was their sensei if the amount of killing intent the man was releasing was anything to go by.

Kakashi was seeing red. No one harmed his books and got away with it, even the Hokage knew that damaging Kakashi's collection was the sort of thing only someone that wanted to die did and just now this brat he had spent the last month training had dared burn his book.

Sasuke wasn't as stupid as he seemed however, despite what the rest of his team had seen his sharingan was capable of much more than just burning things and placing a small genjutsu to imitate his Amaterasu was a simple feat, however he was beginning to think his plan wasn't going to work… at all.

He barely had a chance to react as his sharingan predicted his sensei's movements, allowing him to dodge the grab aimed at him by the skin of his teeth as his sensei prepared himself to punish the boy for 'killing his precious'. It wouldn't have mattered as much if it wasn't that particular copy, it was his sensei's last present to him before the Kyūbi attack twelve years ago so that particular book had extra significance to him.

Of course no one except Maito Gai knew that little titbit of information and despite his belief that the book was 'unyouthful' he respected that Kakashi was attached to it due to its significance as the last present from his second father.

Sasuke had to admit he was very grateful the silver haired Jōnin had drilled speed and reflexes into him through the month of training, otherwise he was certain he would be getting seriously hurt right now.

Finally managing to manoeuvre himself and his sensei to the same area the 'burning book' was located, he immediately ducked down and picked the novel off the floor before dispelling the genjutsu and placing the hardback in front of himself like a shield.

Instantly the Jōnin stopped his assault as the most precious object he owned was used as a shield. His rage died down significantly when his brain finally processed the reality, he had been tricked by a genjutsu… he was beginning to feel like an idiot, his only comfort being that he usually relied on his sharingan to see through illusions, having only minor skill in that area, sure he was better than quite a lot of Konoha's ninja but he was still no expert at counter genjutsu combat without his doujutsu.

"You little bastard, did you think that was funny?" the masked man finally asked as he grabbed his book from the boys hand, finally back in control of his emotions.

"No, but you deserved it after the past month," the last Uchiha replied seriously, earning nods of agreement off his teammates as a sweatdrop appeared on the older man's head in response to his students hostility towards him.

"Alright, just know this, if you ever harm my book, last month will seem like heaven compared to what I'll put you through," the coldness in Kakashi's voice could have frozen a volcano and team 7 received the full brunt of the chilling tone.

"H-hai Kakashi-sensei," it was extremely unlike him to call someone with an honorific, however right now he would swallow his pride because the man before him was both scary and extremely dangerous.

"I think it is safe to assume that we shouldn't do anything to piss off Kakashi-sensei during this mission," Naruto muttered to his pink haired teammate earning a nod of agreement off the girl before the masked Jōnin turned to them, causing both of their bodies to stiffen in the hope that he wouldn't take any of his anger out on them.

"Alright team, Asahi should be approximately one day away from here, if everything goes right then we will arrive at the village around midday tomorrow. Once we get there, we will start searching for the bandits main camp before strategising appropriately. Once the bandits have been dealt with, we will track down any survivors and eliminate them before returning to the village to report the status of the bandits to the mayor before returning to Konoha. Any questions?" it was a simple explanation with the length their journey should be taking into account their physically weakest teammate who despite her intense training was still not at the boys level in terms of speed or stamina.

"I do Kakashi-sensei," the blond of the group stated as he tried to collect more information about the possibility of things going wrong, earning a blank look off the Jōnin, honestly he just wanted to get this mission over with as soon as possible, "what is the likelihood of there being a nuke-nin in the camp?"

"Hm, according to the information we've received concerning the tactics and skills employed by the group, it is safe to assume that even if there is a nuke-nin among them, they won't be much of a threat," the silver haired man replied, he had forgotten that Minato's kid wasn't the sort to ask completely pointless questions, "if that is everything, move out."

And with that, they were gone in a blur, all of them heading through the trees towards the small town of Asahi and their first mission as team 7.


	7. Chapter 7

Team seven moved silently through the foliage as the group proceeded at a good pace towards the small town of Asahi. Kakashi couldn't help but feel slightly concerned about his students as they remained silent throughout the trip, each one deep in thought.

He was genuinely concerned for the group (minus Sasuke after the prank he pulled) as they would be getting their first kills on this mission. The first kill was always the hardest, he had no doubt that Sasuke would be capable of coping, he had already experienced something far more traumatic than that by the time he had turned eight.

However neither Naruto or Sakura had that experience to help them, Naruto may have suffered from isolation but that was the worst that had happened to him, while Sakura had lived a sheltered upbringing and had never had anything bad happen to her... well outside of the training her silver haired sensei had put her through but that didn't count.

The one thing he hoped was that their adrenaline would keep them going when they killed their enemies, he really did not want his team killed because they froze in combat, oh how much easier it would've been if they had been assigned an escort mission.

"_So my first mission as a Konoha ninja… Kyūbi, if I begin to freeze up, would you be willing to take control until I've regained my senses?" _Naruto asked the vixen sealed within his mind.

Silence reigned within his head as he awaited the bijū's answer, unlike the other occupant of his mind he was unaware of the look of dumbfounded shock present on the kitsune as its brain tried to process what the boy had asked of it.

"_I believe Kyūbi-san would be prepared to assist you should you require any help,"_Hōgyoku stated calmly while the red furred vixen remained in her state of null mind.

"_Why isn't she answering me herself then?"_ the young 'shinigami' asked, unable to understand exactly why the fox wasn't speaking to him right now.

"_I believe your request may have shorted her brain, it is not something that one would expect after she attacked your home,"_ the ancient orb told him seriously, causing realisation to spread in his mind, though he managed to show nothing, he really didn't need to tell his comrades that two beings of immense power had taken up residence in his body.

"_I see… but despite her past, I believe she isn't the raving beast that most of Konoha believes she is,"_ Naruto told the orb with conviction noticeable within his mental tone.

"_**Then why haven't you told the Hokage more than you did that night?"**_ obviously the little foxes mind had finally rebooted and she had managed to process that last statement.

"_If I did, do you honestly think he would accept it? Unlike me he hasn't met you, he hasn't spoken with you, he has only ever fought you and that is why I believe he will always be biased against you," _the blond explained to the vixen, unaware of the softening of the foxes expression as it listened to the boy's words.

"_**I guess you're right, humans don't tend to forgive or forget do they?"**_ she said, her voice filled with a hint of an emotion that the boy hadn't heard a lot in the vixen but recognised none the less… sadness.

Noticing the emotion in the kitsune's voice, he couldn't help but get the feeling that she was sad that humans kept holding grudges… and that he was human. His mind began to wander with that link. Did Kyūbi actually trust him? Humans weren't known for their honesty, they were known for their vindictiveness and their cruelty… if that was the case then did the fox know that the only way he made people suffer was through pranks?

It didn't take him long to start wondering if the whole reason Kyūbi appeared to try and distance herself from him was simply fear of the human nature, it would make sense, humans weren't exactly known to be the most forgiving creatures on the planet, nor the kindest.

"_Some of them do, it's just that most of them wouldn't even accept you as anything more than a mindless beast hell bent on destruction… something we both know you aren't," _the spiky haired boy told the kitsune as he continued his travels through the trees, still trying to keep any hint of changing emotion hidden as he followed his sensei.

"_**From what I've witnessed, hatred is the most common human emotion,"**_ Kyūbi stated with a hint of regret.

"_What makes you think hate is the most common emotion?"_ Naruto asked, his mind beginning to wonder what the fox had witnessed to come to such a conclusion.

"_**The number of humans that thrive off of it, the most notable being that clan you call the Uchiha,"**_ the vixen informed him, causing him to break his emotionless mask with a small sigh.

"Is something wrong Naruto?" Kakashi asked his young student upon noticing him sigh, he didn't know why the boy had done so but he was thinking that it probably had something to do with the orb embedded in his chest, he might not have been told by Naruto, but he had been thoroughly briefed on this so called 'Hōgyoku' and knew that it communicated with the boy.

"Sorry Kakashi-sensei, I was just thinking… and I think I forgot to water by plants before we left," it was a very simple excuse which caused his teammates to roll their eyes, from what they remembered the boy was quite fond of horticulture so they simply decided to avoid talking about it.

"I see… well let's just get this mission finished quickly so you can go back and water them," the Jōnin stated with an eye smile, he doubted that was what the blond was really thinking about but he would just have to leave it until they were alone.

"Since when have you ever cared about us?" Sasuke asked, wondering why the man had suddenly decided that they were worth caring about.

"Just because I was hard on you doesn't mean I don't care… call it tough love if you will," the silver haired ninja stated with an eye smile.

"So you love us? That would make you a bisexual paedophile," Naruto muttered earning a tick of irritation from the more experienced ninja.

"You know what I meant smartass and if you carry on like that you'll find yourself helping out T&I as a practice dummy," the cycloptic man informed the young blond while the other genin let out a small giggle.

"Hai Kakashi-sensei," the young blond replied before deciding it would be best to just shut up before he seriously pissed off the man that had trained them over the past month.

XXX XXX XXX

Several hours passed while the group moved at a good pace, covering most of the distance to the small town even though they had been forced to stop several times for the pink haired member to catch her breath and to give them all a chance to get a proper drink instead of just a quick gulp while they ran.

The sun had gone down a couple of hours ago and the group was growing tired from the nearly constant running they had been made to endure, sure they had been slow compared to most other ninja teams that worked outside Konoha but they already knew that Sakura was closer to a civilian in terms of conditioning and they had already been pushing her hard at the sedate pace they had been sticking to.

"Alright team, it's time we stopped for the night, set up your tents and I'll deal with the fire," Kakashi ordered the genin before making a hand seal none of the genin had ever seen before, when a single copy of himself appeared in a puff of smoke next to him.

Immediately the two Kakashi's each went their own directions with one beginning to set up his tent while the other proceeded to start collecting firewood as the genin decided it wasn't worth focusing on and proceeded to start setting up their own tents.

It didn't take long for the trio to finish setting up their tents and when they turned back to their sensei they saw that unlike them, he hadn't finished with his tent, making them wonder why he was taking so long.

"Kakashi-sensei, why haven't you finished setting up your tent yet?" Sakura asked in curiosity, he had started before them and was going to be finished after them as well.

"Oh that's simple… I'm just taking my time, no point in rushing when I have all night to do it now is there?" and once again he gave one of his infuriating eye smiles causing the team to give him blanks stares all round, "plus I haven't had to put up a tent in several years so I've grown rusty."

"Why haven't you had to set up a tent for so long?" Naruto asked, wondering what had caused him to avoid tents for so long.

"Two reasons, reason one is that I usually manage to reach a town before having to stop which meant I could just book a hotel," at that the team gave each other a series of looks that said they would have to do that as well, "and reason two is that when I don't get a hotel, I'm usually on a team with Tenzo so he always dealt with our 'camp'."

"Who's Tenzo?" the entire group asked simultaneously, causing the man to let out a sigh.

"A friend of mine in ANBU, due to his… unfortunate background he possesses the mokuton kekkei genkai and tends to makes temporary houses for his teammates at night," the silver haired Jōnin told them, causing the group to look at him blankly before Sasuke and Sakura turned to face their blond teammate.

"I've gotta learn how to do that," was all Naruto could say upon hearing that there was a guy that could make houses instead of having to set up tents.

"Yes you do," the other genin agreed causing them to turn on the Jōnin, making him wonder what they were planning.

"When we get back, Naruto had better meet this Tenzo guy, do you understand Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke stated, he would much rather stay in a building than a tent like he was currently expected to.

"I'll talk to him about it," Kakashi started only to get cut off by the Uchiha.

"You WILL get him to teach Naruto that trick or you WILL lose your book for real," the raven haired boy stated seriously, before showing off his Mangekyou once again to let the man know he meant it.

"You wouldn't dare," the cyclops stated sternly, earning a narrowing of eyes from the young boy.

"Do you really want to risk it?" the staring match carried on for several minutes before a familiar white coat got between the two.

"Look, you two staring at each other won't do any good, so how about we get the rotation for the watch before you two die of old age?" Naruto interrupted, causing the two sharingan holders to accept that the boy was right, staring at each other would do nothing.

"Alright, the watch will be split into four two hour blocks, I'll take one of the middle shifts, does anyone want to volunteer for the other?" Kakashi stated calmly, it was a simple arrangement, they would each get around six hours sleep as long as they actually slept when not on watch, the only problem being the two middle shifts which would split the sleep of two of the members so they wouldn't get as good a rest as the others.

"I will volunteer Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, earning a curt nod off the older man, he understood why the boy had chosen a middle shift, even before merging with the orb he had always been a person that didn't sleep as much as others and he knew it.

Once the order had been settled, the group proceeded to gather around the newly started fire, Kakashi's bunshin dispelled as soon as the fire was ready.

The meal was nothing special, just simple cans of beans or soup, with a cup of instant ramen that they had brought with them for this exact situation, in the end it was enough for them to survive off of and that was all that mattered to a ninja on a mission… why else do you think they ate the field rations they were given in times of desperation.

Once they had finally finished their meal, the group packed up the dishes they had used before a simple Suiton ninjutsu from the Jōnin extinguished the fire and the group headed to their tents for the rest they were going to need.

XXX XXX XXX

Sasuke couldn't help but feel a tad lonely as he sat in a tree, he had been given the first watch and would be followed by Naruto.

It felt strange to him though, during the academy he had felt nothing but anger, hatred and loneliness and now… now he only felt a hint of those former emotions. He had finally managed to get friends, not fangirls or social climbers, but people that he actually considered his friends, people he could share his feelings with and that shared their feelings with him.

Not once did they ask him for money or a public date with him (though Sakura would still occasionally ask him she no longer cared about people seeing her with him like she once did), they simply treated him like a normal person and he would admit, it felt good.

His mind began to wander back to the academy, now that he had grown close to certain others, he could no longer believe that he had managed to endure what he did during the academy, the constant praise, the undeserved attention and the feeling of isolation that it gave him.

They had always made him out to be 'Uchiha-sama' or 'the last Uchiha' the natural born genius, never Sasuke, the hard worker that put his blood sweat and tears into his training, hoping that one day he would fulfil his goal and kill his brother.

Kill his brother… it was something that he had never questioned before but now he did nothing but question it and it was all thanks to Naruto, the boy had started the new trend that only ninja and the ramen family tended to do… get to know him as opposed to put him on a pedestal and simply look at him like some sort of target or goal.

Finally letting his mind leave that train of thought, he pulled out the book he had brought with him, his father's journal was in his hands and hopefully would contains hints that would lead him to a conclusion… why had Itachi killed the clan? Why had he spared him?

Starting from the front, he began to read the entries, each one was boring, offering him nothing more than the comfort of knowing that despite his father's apparent lack of interest in him, the man had loved him more than Itachi.

The man had been proud of his older son's accomplishments but the boy had never been what the man had wanted in a son, the boy had simply been too detached for the clan head to get close to.

Slowly moving further forward, he began to see patterns emerging, patterns involving Itachi and several other clan members. From what he could figure out, his father had been suspicious of the youngest ANBU operative and had actually believed he might betray the clan at any moment.

Then others became frequent entries in the book, including the Hokage and a man named Danzō, apparently his father was having some form of negotiation with these people, though the journal didn't tell him what these negotiations were about.

Sasuke was beginning to feel as if he wasn't getting the whole picture, that there was a lot more going on within the clan he had been unaware of when he came across a single entry that shocked him to his core, the words written shattering his ingrained image of the massacre and his brothers intentions as the final piece of the jigsaw was put in place, finally letting him see the big picture.

"_Shisui was found dead, there may have been a suicide note but a man doesn't remove both of his eyes before killing himself. We have reason to believe that Itachi is working for the Hokage and his council… our hand is being forced, the coup will be staged in three days."_


	8. Chapter 8

Once again team seven raced through the trees on their journey to the town of Asahi, each of them letting their minds wander on different things.

Sasuke was conflicted, from what he had read it was possible that the villain wasn't Itachi but the family that was taken from him, if that was the case then why didn't he pass on that information to the Hokage? Or was it even his decision to commit the atrocity in the first place? If so then why did he leave the village? Why did he have to live as a criminal? Why did he spare him? There were so many questions that his father's journal had raised and for the first time in his life he didn't know what to do.

He glanced at his teammates, both of them seemed preoccupied with their own thoughts, he didn't know what they were thinking about however at this point in time he didn't really care. Even if they weren't lost in their own thoughts he wouldn't have told them what he had found, he had already decided that he would speak with the Hokage to make sure he learned the full extent of what his father had written and hopefully, find a way to determine his brothers motive for leaving him alive after killing everyone else.

Sakura felt nervous, despite the entire month of training she was going to be entering a genuine battlefield soon. Her mind quickly reminded her that it wasn't going to be like the academy, in the academy all fighting was one on one spars with set rules and restrictions, here however she would be significantly outnumbered and there would be no rules to the fighting, she would have to focus on everything that was happening, she just hoped she could pull it off and not hold her team back like she feared she would.

Naruto couldn't help but wonder, would he freeze up after his first kill? Or would his adrenaline keep him going until the end? What would a full out battle against multiple enemies be like? There were so many questions flying through his head as he jumped from branch to branch, his mind eventually shifting to the subject of his power. Hōgyoku had been working tirelessly and he already possessed several kekkei genkai including the three main doujutsu… though activating one meant activating them all, which in turn drained his considerable chakra supply at a surprising rate.

Outside of the doujutsu he also possessed several nature release kekkei genkai, though he only possessed the nature manipulation for the jutsu, which meant he was forced to try and combine them with shape manipulation which proved harder than he had first anticipated since several of the 'elements' displayed an immense resilience to being controlled like that.

Despite knowing he still had so much to learn his mind couldn't help but wonder about what sort of power he would possess once all his barriers were broken and his true potential was released. Hōgyoku had told him that he would be strong enough to defeat Izanagi, but just how strong was that? Was the god actually as powerful as he imagined? Or were the Kami weaker than he thought they would be? In the end his curiosity got the better of him as he finally asked the question that had started to plague him.

"_Yoku-chan, how powerful are the Kami?"_ he couldn't see it but his question had earned looks of shock off both the beings contained within his mind, they were both aware of the danger involved when facing a god.

"_It is not their raw power that you must beware of when fighting a Kami, it is their state of existence,"_ the orb replied, causing confusion to course through the boys veins as he tried to understand what the older being was trying to tell him.

"_**What she means is that only a Kami can hurt a Kami, no matter how strong or weak either is,"**_ came the simpler explanation from Kyūbi as she remembered her encounter with the shinigami and how she had been rendered powerless against the being as it ripped her soul apart.

"_Wait, you told me I would be strong enough to defeat Izanagi, does that mean that I will actually BE a kami?" _he asked upon processing the foxes words.

"_That is correct, however there is a problem you should be aware of when fighting a Kami,"_immediately the boy began to feel nervous, he had no intention of fighting a Kami however from what he recalled of his first meeting with the orb, they didn't exactly like her and he might end up in conflict with them depending on whether or not they would accept him because of his association with her.

"_What is this problem?"_ he thought back, wondering exactly what sort of complication would occur if he did get into a fight with a god.

"_**The Kami are necessary, let's say, you killed Amaterasu… the sun would disappear and the world would be plunged into eternal darkness and the harshest of winters,"**_such an answer made Naruto blink several times, if killing a god could cause such calamities then how could there possibly be a god that DIDN'T exist?

"_There are certain phenomena that exist outside of a Kami's influence, these things are things we refer to 'existing outside of reason' since they defy the very nature of the universe, I am one such phenomena,"_ the barrier breaking orb stated before being cut off by her host.

"_You are not a phenomena, you are alive so don't act as if you aren't,"_ the response was expected but despite that it still earned a small smile from the being as it remembered the boys obsession with making her feel worth something.

"_Perhaps, however I believe that once your godhood has been awakened you may possess authority over some aspect of what currently exists outside of reason,"_ she explained to him, causing him to suddenly understand what she was saying, there were things that had the potential for a god to rule over them but didn't yet.

"_I see, thank you for the explanation Yoku-chan, Kyūbi," _once again his mind proceeded to wander to other subjects, however at the back of his mind he slowly began to wonder what he would eventually rule over and what it would take to understand the extent of his power when he finally ascended to the position of a Kami.

XXX XXX XXX

The village of Asahi was nothing special, it was essentially a collection of houses situated around a small market and a slightly lager house that made up the town hall. It was there that the team reported their arrival before getting a quick meal and starting their search for the bandits they had been hired to eliminate.

"Alright, Naruto, can you see anything that could lead us to the bandits?" Kakashi asked the blond as the group started to make their move within the village.

Placing his hands in a simple seal the boy muttered "Byakugan," before the veins around his eyes bulged. Almost immediately his vision extended as everything became clear to the boy, the leaf on every tree, the insects on and in every piece of wood and the minor indentations that scattered the ground from when the bandits made their last strike before retreating back to the foliage surrounding the town.

"Their tracks are over here," the boy stated as he moved towards the area the several tracks that left the village united. It was a simple trick that didn't really work against ninja, by having the raiding party spread out and attack from several different directions the civilians wouldn't know which direction the camp was located.

The team began to follow the tracks that led to the bandits camp, sticking to the trees and keeping their eyes open for any possible traps or patrols, not that they needed to bother, with Naruto's Byakugan activated he would be able to warn them of anything for about five hundred meters.

"I see the camp, there are approximately thirty seven enemies, twenty two of which have high levels of alcohol in their bloodstream, only fifteen should pose any form of danger," the spiky haired blond stated upon seeing the camp and the group that lived there, "it would appear that there are no hostages within the camp though one of the bandits possess higher chakra levels than the rest, possibly a genin to Chūnin nuke nin."

"I see, what are their characteristics?" the one eyed shinobi asked the boy, even if the opponent wasn't anything special chakra wise it was possible that they had some form of shinobi training that could put one of the children at risk. Despite their strength and the extensive training he put them through he knew that there was no substitute for real combat experience and if this foe was even remotely capable then Kakashi doubted the skills he had instilled into the children could be adapted smoothly to suit the enemy, especially with so many other threats to worry about on the battlefield.

"Young woman approximately 5' 8" tall, short black hair, dressed in a short blue Yakuta with a Katana strapped to her back," Naruto stated calmly, earning a nod off his sensei to show that he had gotten all the necessary information to find the person he would make his 'target'

Hearing that the possible 'ninja' was a woman made the silver haired Jōnin slightly nervous, if it was a man then it could've just been put to the side as him having naturally large levels of chakra which he didn't train, however a woman in a bandit camp was a different story. For a woman to work with bandits meant one of two things, either they were easy when it came to sex or they were strong enough to keep the rest in line and not risk trying anything.

He may have just been paranoid but ninja didn't reach Jōnin if they accepted everything at face value, he knew for a fact that some people with minor chakra levels were incredibly dangerous, two perfect example of this were two of his friends, Yūhi Kurenai and Maito Gai, neither possessed much in the way of chakra capacity, with Kurenai focusing on perfecting the art of genjutsu while Gai focused on Taijutsu, with the result being that they both lacked the reserves to launch many ninjutsu.

"How does her chakra capacity compare to ours?" the cycloptic Jōnin asked him seriously, showing that he was taking this possible threat seriously.

"Her capacity is approximately two to three times greater than Sakura's," the boy answered calmly, not having the same experience with low chakra types that his sensei had and therefore not understanding that the woman could potentially be extremely dangerous.

"Alright then, start with a volley of kunai armed with exploding tags, try to take out as many as you can from cover, only fight them if you have been discovered, if our cover is blown then I'll deal with the woman, you three are to take out the rest," Kakashi ordered, confusing the blond with his decision concerning the woman.

"Kakashi-sensei, why do you want to fight her yourself?" he decided to ask, he wanted to know if there was something he was missing in his assessment of the situation.

"Naruto, do you know who Yūhi Kurenai is?" the one eyed man asked the boy seriously, making the boy blink a couple of times at the question.

"She is the Jōnin Sensei of Team 8," the boy stated calmly, earning a nod of confirmation from his sensei.

"That is correct, do you have any idea how much chakra she has?" at that question the blond shook his head in the negative, he had never activated his Byakugan around people outside of his teammates, plus he thought it was rude to look inside a person full stop, let alone an ally.

"Her chakra capacity is approximately two to three times greater than Sakura's," the more experienced ninja told them seriously, earning widening eyes off the group, a fully fledged Jōnin could have those levels of chakra? It didn't seem normal to them, "do you understand now? Despite her lack of chakra she could potentially be highly dangerous."

"Hai Kakashi-sensei," came the unanimous call from the group before they started preparing their Kunai for the attack they were going to launch.

XXX XXX XXX

Dammatsuma Shura couldn't help but feel nervous as she sat in her tent in the middle of the bandit camp. She had no fear towards the men she lived with, quite the opposite in fact, the last time one of them had tried anything with her, he had been made an example of and the bandits lost all eagerness to fight her.

Then again picking a fight with someone that could hold her own against A-rank criminals was generally considered a stupid thing to do. She had no delusions however, she knew that if she was to face an S-rank then her best bet was to run for her life, those monsters tended to possess abilities that were inhuman, something she knew from experience when she decided that the traitorous Uchiha Itachi was probably just being hyped up to try and instil a sense of fear into the other villages that Konoha could produce monsters like him.

She had been lucky when she fought him, since he was still going through puberty at the time she had managed to take advantage of his newly appearing hormones in order to trade her life for a night with her body, she wasn't too proud to deny that she would resort to such measures to survive if she had to. She wasn't a ninja like so many others, she had simply learned about kenjutsu and genjutsu from her father before he passed away, leaving her with nothing but a sword and some skill that would allow her to follow in his footsteps.

She had trampled on that dream, her hatred for the man was greater than the love she was supposed to feel as part of a family. Outside of training and feeding her, the man had done nothing for the girl, allowing her to live an empty childhood that would never be returned to her.

What she was currently concerned about wasn't the group she had joined when she was still a child, they either feared or loved her, the ones that had been around since she joined all considered her their little sister and although they wouldn't protect her from any advances, it was only because they knew who would get hurt.

What made her nervous was the feeling she had that only appeared in her head when shinobi were near. She had heard that there were people that could sense chakra and she was almost certain that she was one of those people, however she had never had anyone to teach her how to focus her ability and the most she could do was tell that a team of shinobi was near.

Fortunately the group had a specific system put in place for such a situation, namely a small device that sent out a pulse that set off several others to let everyone know that she had detected a presence and that they should prepare for battle. The technology may have been expensive but simply being capable of knowing that there were ninja around made their chances of survival increase, especially with the training the woman had given them.

The biggest problem she knew her group would have was the number in the group that had become drunk, she had warned them all about it, that no more than a quarter of them should be allowed to drink at any time but it was the one suggestion that the group refused to agree with, saying that it wouldn't hurt to allow everyone to drink when they wanted, the chances were that they were going to pay the price for it now.

Slowly raising from her prone position on her bed, she straightened out the katana she always wore before leaving her tent, her objective clear in her mind, start preparations for a ninja attack, something the other sober members of the band made to do as well.

XXX XXX XXX

"That's interesting, it would appear that the bandits are already aware of our presence," Naruto muttered loud enough for the rest of his team to hear, making his sensei go even further on edge, it seemed as though the woman may have possessed some skill as a sensor.

"What are they doing now? Defending or retreating," the Jōnin asked with a tone of authority, despite his usual laid back attitude he wasn't one to take unnecessary risks and knew that this situation was a bad one, unfortunately he didn't have enough evidence to indicate that the mission was potentially a higher rank than it had been recorded.

"They appear to be taking up defensive positions around the camp, it would also seem that they are either just being paranoid or they know we are here but don't know which direction we will come from," the spiky haired boy stated, causing the man to give a small nod.

The Jōnin was now pretty sure that what they were dealing with was someone with sensor abilities that had not trained them, otherwise the bandits would've already been in this defensive positioning before they arrived or they wouldn't have taken it at all, he just hoped that the woman wouldn't have higher combat skill than sensor capabilities as he gave the team the signal to start the raid, their first C-rank was finally underway.

* * *

Now as I said before this story will not be updated, it may be rewritten at some point however that is dependent largely on a poll I set up on my proper profile.


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